


Nino Has Done Nothing To Deserve This

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: we should have just played scrabble, now we're losing at jumanji [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs a Hug, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Humor, Identity Reveal, Let Adrien Agreste Eat, Literal Sleeping Together, Marinette and Adrien's very frustrated friends, Rated For Language Mostly, Really everyone needs a hug, Sleepovers, Team as Family, Teamwork, dodgeball - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-06-23 03:20:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15597090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: It's nothing, really- just an innocent comment, a joke. But when they hear it, Nino and Alya come to a realisation.There were, in retrospect, dozens upon dozens of hints.  Now that they're suddenly aware of all their friend's flimsy excuses and rushed explanations, they're not only sure how they've missed it, they're not sure how anyone else has either. They realise that it had to be magic protecting their friends- and that same magic has ceased to work on the two of them.Well, this means they'll just have to start watching over their friends themselves.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is for fun, this is nowhere like as serious as my other Miraculous Ladybug fic, but this has been so fun to write
> 
> au because alya and nino Know, and because the timeline doesn't match the show

It's honestly an accident. 

Yes, it's technically Nino's fault, but it really is an accident.

It's not even like they haven't thought of it before. This time, for some reason, it just strikes them differently- it strikes them just right. 

It starts with an akuma club. 

"Babe," Alya says when he brings it up. "That's not most of the class. That's all of the class. That's Chloe." 

Nino shrugs, undeterred. "That makes it even more important. We should be able to hang out and talk about what it was like, you know? Besides, it _isn't_ the whole class. Adrien hasn't been akumatized yet." 

Alya kind of hates the way everyone has taken to adding 'yet' when discussing the (fewer and fewer) people who haven't been akumatized, but, well, they aren't wrong. "Okay, so it's everyone but him- well, him and Marinette." 

Nino makes a face. "Yeah... actually, you know, I kind of hate to make a club and have them be the only two that can't join?  Especially Adrien, dude's been left out enough in his life."

"I think he can live with being left out of being akumatized," Alya says dryly. 

Kim, who's been not-so-subtly eavesdropping, leans under their table- Adrien and Marinette actually aren't here right now, having both been called away shortly before the current akuma attack that has everyone holed up in the library.  Alya and Nino are crushed together under one table, but Alix and Kim have been cheerfully crawling around between everyone's hiding places rather than doing the sensible thing and staying put. 

It's kind of a surprise more of their class doesn't try to rush _towards_ akuma. Nino figures he has enough to do restraining Alya; honestly, if Kim and Alix decide they want to go out and join the fight, he's wishing them luck and getting out of their way. 

"They could be _honorary_ members of the akuma club," Kim offers eagerly. "I mean, it's everyone else, and Marinette and Adrien are both cool. I don't wanna leave them out." 

Crawling after him and just about crushing Nino- there is _not_ enough room under this table for four people when one of them is _Kim_ \- Alix nods.  "Yeah! Oh!" She lights up. "They could be Ladybug and Chat Noir!" 

Alya promptly chokes on nothing. Nino stares wide-eyed at the wall, trying not to think about that too hard. 

"Yeah!" Kim says, enthusiastic. "We've got all these akuma, right? _Someone_ should represent our superheroes."

It's only minutes after that the all-clear bell rings (they'd added an all-clear bell after around the school's fifth akuma), so Nino and Alya don't contribute much, opting just to listen to Kim and Alix egg each other on. The two move on pretty quickly from akuma club to trying to wrestle each other (yet another thing there isn't _room for_ under here, but that doesn't stop them). 

Their class scrambles out of cover to head back to class (or home, in some cases- it's fairly close to the end of the day, people will frequently use akuma attacks as an excuse to leave, and the school has given up on stopping them).  Nino and Alya don't move even when Kim and Alix do. Finally they're the only two people left in the library. 

"Nino," Alya says.

"No," Nino says. 

"Nino."

" _No."_

" _Nino_ ," she says again, reaching towards him. He catches her hand and pulls her closer. "Think about it-" 

"I did! I thought about it, and then I stopped thinking about, because now I'm done thinking about it forever!" Nino stares resolutely ahead, because he knows better than to look at Alya's expression. 

"But-" 

" _No_." 

She huffs and stays silent. 

For about a minute. 

"But what if-" 

"They're _not!_ I refuse, Al, they're not!" 

"Sure," Alya says. "So where were they during this attack?  Where are they during _most_ attacks?" 

Nino scowls. "My boy forgot something at home again. One of them is more than enough, I am deffo not responsible for yours." 

"Oh, please, like I'm remotely capable of keeping track of Marinette," Alya groans. "She had to run home again too. Urgently. Again. Right before an attack. _Again_." 

"It's a coincidence!" 

"It's a series of coincidences! How many do you need to have before you start thinking it's not a coincidence, it's a _pattern?"_ Alya thumps him lightly on the back of the head. 

Neither of them says anything for a little bit. 

Finally, Nino says, defeated, "Do you think they know?" 

Alya snorts. "Have you met them?" 

"Should... should we tell them?" 

"I thought it was a coincidence?" Alya says smugly. 

"Fine! Fine, it's... it could be," Nino mutters. 

She sighs too and leans into him. "But I don't think we should say anything. We could be wrong, I mean, not _likely_ but we could be. But also we should give them a chance to figure it out."

"Alya," Nino says. "Have _you_ met them?"

"...maybe we should set a time limit." 

So that's how it starts. Nino and Alya agree not to mention their suspicions (their deductions, according to Alya; their delusions, according to Nino) to anyone. They shake on it. 

And then they start teasing their friends mercilessly, because what good is it if they can't make the best of this? 

While they're waiting for class to start (Adrien and Marinette were both miraculously early, which wouldn't be so suspicious if the last akuma attack hadn't been the day before) Alya makes a point of leaning over enough to be _well_ in Adrien's earshot when she says, "So Marinette! You've met Chat Noir a couple times, right? What's he like? Is he really cool, or is he secretly seriously lame?" She leans in further, planting her elbow obnoxiously on Nino's shoulder, and says, "Does he make puns as bad as some of Adrien's?" 

Nino snorts and turns towards them, sending Alya's elbow flying. She resettles it as soon as he's turned towards them. "No way. All of Adrien's jokes are terrible." 

Adrien bares his teeth at Nino. (Alya immediately tries to stare a hole in Nino's head. He ignores her). "Are not. You're just jealous." 

Marinette mumbles something completely unintelligible, probably about how she's sure Adrien's puns are fine. 

Rolling his eyes, Nino says, "Sure, dude. Wanna share the one you texted me last night? At two in the freaking morning, for some godforsaken reason?" 

"It's a good joke," Adrien defends himself weakly. 

"It's not," Nino says. "Also? I was asleep!" 

"No you weren't," Alya tells him. 

"Not the point! Adrien, tell your damn joke!" 

"Okay, okay!" Adrien clears his throat. "So a thief tries to steal painting from the Louvre, but he gets caught when his van runs out of gas. They ask him what he has to say for himself and he says, 'I had no Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh, but I still tried because I had nothing Toulouse."

For a moment there's dead silence. 

Then Alya says, fervently, "I hate you." 

Marinette's giggling. 

"I hate you so much, Agreste, I hate that you made me listen to that with my own two ears and- oh, god, I think you killed Marinette." 

Marinette has graduated from giggling to full on gasping laughter. "That's fantastic," she groans. "That's awful. It's so awful it's fantastic." 

Grinning, Adrien says, "I know!" 

"So, is he better or worse than Chat Noir?" Alya asks, leaning back again. Nino immediately rubs his sore shoulder and gives her a hurt look. "Spill, girl." 

"I'm not, uh, sure?" Marinette's eyes are darting everywhere but at her friends. "I mean, uh, I, he d-didn't pun much when I met him I don't think?" Her voice raises in obvious question towards the end. 

Nino is going to die of secondhand embarrassment one day. 

"Seriously?" Alya exclaims. "He puns every battle! There's a whole section of the Ladyblog devoted to it!" 

"There is?" Adrien says, startled, but Alya steamrolls right over him. 

"Come on, you have to remember something he said, out with it!" Alya challenges, a slightly manic gleam in her eye, and Nino catches on. If Marinette's been hearing Chat Noir's puns in person every day, after all, there's no way she's going to remember what he said when, and even Adrien is going to notice if she's heard a joke he's only told Ladybug. 

Probably. 

"I-" Marinette starts, and then there's screaming from outside. 

Nino definitely did not imagine the relief that flashed through their friend's eyes. 

"I just remembered I left something in my gym bag," Adrien says in a rush, eyes darting to the door. 

"Me too, I'll come with you!" Marinette squeaks, before having a coughing fit. "I-I mean, in my gym. Bag. Left my gym in my bag in the locker girl room, sorry I have to go!" 

They almost trip over each other on their way out the door. Marinette doesn't even notice, too busy speeding away down the hallway.  

In the opposite direction from the locker rooms. 

Staring after them, Alya says, "How did we not know this already?" 

"To be fair," Nino says, "I think there's magic involved. Because man, are they terrible at this." 

If there's an akuma this close the school probably isn't safe, and heading for the front doors has historically proven to be a bad idea, so while their classmates file resignedly out of the door (Max and Markov, Sabrina and Chloe) or take shelter beneath their desks (Ivan, who doesn't appear to care very much about attacks anymore, and Mylene, who does care about staying with Ivan, and Nathaniel, who simply slides under his desk with his sketchbook without pausing in his drawing) or join the group in the corner trying to get video of the fight on their tablets (Kim, Alix, Rose and Juleka, and Alya is personally offended that they aren't waiting for the Ladyblog), Alya and Nino themselves go out the window. 

Nino's honestly not sure anymore where their teachers go during an akuma attack.  He's pretty sure Mme. Mendeleiev just up and leaves when she hears the alarm, and he thinks Mme. Bustier is waiting for the Ladyblog to update with information on the fight. The teacher glances around to make sure the room is safe, but she also makes no attempt to stop any of the scattering students from leaving. By now most of the population of Paris is more than used to akuma attacks and everyone's developed their own coping mechanisms. 

Nino is not thrilled that most of their own coping mechanisms seem to involve running _into_ danger. 

"We're on the second floor," Nino says, when they're halfway down. "Where did you learn to do this anyway, double oh seven?"

Alya shrugs, carefully, dropping down to catch a ledge. "Marinette. She knows a bunch of ways to sneak out of her room." She reaches the ground and reaches up to give Nino a hand. "How about you?" 

"Adrien," he admits with a groan. "Same reason." He pauses. "Real and invented both, I think." 

"Well," Alya sighs. "You know what his dad's like. I guess in your defense, it's totally natural to think Adrien's been getting a lot of practice at sneaking out.  Marinette should have had me a little more suspicious- her parents are super reasonable, and it's not like she doesn't have a skylight to climb in and out of." 

There's a longer pause from both of them. 

"We are so, so dumb," Nino says at last. 

Alya sighs again and tugs him after her as she breaks into a run. "Yeah, yeah we are. Come on, let's go catch up to the fight."

"No!" Nino yelps, tripping after her. "No, come on, Alya, the whole _point_ of sneaking out was to _avoid_ the akuma!"

"Maybe for you it was!" Alya shoots back, laughing. "I need to go get some good footage, babe!" She turns back to him without stopping and winks. "Besides. We already knew Ladybug and Chat Noir will keep us safe; now it's just more likely."

"Okay, now you're being mean," Nino pants. "And stupid! Alya, we can't distract them!" 

"So we hide! We can bug them after the fight's over!" She flashes him a grin even as they fling themselves under a sideways car- they've already come up on the edge of the battle. 

"Was that a pun? Alya, was that a goddamn pun?" Nino demands, throwing himself flat and flinching as another car goes flying past them. "Why are we out here!" 

"Shut up and get me a good angle!" Alya pops up over the edge of the car, phone up and ready to record, and immediately drops right back down beside him as most of a streetlight goes flying over their hiding spot.

"How about a better hiding place instead?" Nino gasps, grabbing her and rolling out from behind the car to find a nearby alleyway. 

"How is this better?" Alya demands, scouring the alley for a good vantage point. Before Nino can grab her again she's darting up a fire escape. 

"What are you doing!" Nino howls, running after her, because she's going to get killed, and he's pretty sure right now his other two best friends are currently fighting someone who's throwing cars and bits of city infrastructure around, and how is this his life. "Why are you like this!" 

Luckily for Nino- and oh man, does he hate that this is what constitutes _good_ luck in his life now- Ladybug and Chat Noir's plan involves, for some reason, destroying the fire escape that's Alya's only (easy) way up and down from the roof. Between that and the fact that the roof actually is a fantastic vantage point, they spend the rest of the battle up there, recording with Alya providing delighted running commentary- which, he notices with no small amount of relief, doesn't come anywhere near speculation about secret identities. He hadn't really thought she'd go there, knowing what they do now (sure they don't have proof yet but- come on), but Alya forgets herself in her determination to _know_ things sometimes. 

"And that's it, Paris," Alya announces as the ladybugs shower their building in light, rebuilding the shattered fire escape. "Another successful save by Ladybug and Chat Noir. Thank you for following developments on the Ladyblog, but your intrepid reporter had better get back before she's missed!" She ends the recording. 

"So," Nino says. "Think we'll beat them back?"

Alya snorts. "I think one of the things that got thrown past us was Chat Noir. They'd better be taking their time, honestly."

Nino's silent, thinking about that. 

"Babe?" Alya says, concerned now. 

"Alya," he says. "If we're right... then that means Adrien got thrown past us. I mean. He literally got picked up and thrown several city blocks past us." 

Alya's face falls. "Yeah. It does. And Marinette's getting hurt, too." She hesitates, then sets down her phone and pulls her knees up to her chest. "Nino... Chat Noir is kind of prone to..." 

"He throws himself in front of attacks," Nino mutters, sitting down next to her and leaning against his friend. Alya wraps one arm around him instead. "All the damn time." 

"We need to work on that boy's self esteem," Alya sighs, staring out across the rooftops without really seeing them. "And here I've thought it was Marinette I needed to worry about." 

"Oh, you should definitely worry about her too," Nino tells her. "Because I love them both, but worrying about Adrien alone is going to kill me. Running around Paris in spandex and leather is not a good substitute for therapy."

Alya frowns at him and Nino shrugs. "His dad sucks, Alya."

"Okay, yeah, his dad's a massive dick," Alya agrees. "But babe, do you have _any_ idea how often Chat Noir pulls off the whole heroic sacrifice deal? I don't care how much Miraculous Cure fixes, that's not healthy. Nino, I'm pretty sure he's been dead before!" 

"You've been dead before," Nino reminds her. "I've been dead before. Most of the city drowned that one time." He pauses. "When did our lives get this weird?" 

"Hawkmoth's fault?" Alya suggested, not joking for once, though they- and the rest of their class- had by now taken to blaming Hawkmoth for everything up to and including obvious acts of nature.  (In their defense, the man _has_ been indirectly responsible for a few acts of nature).

"Hawkmoth's fault," Nino agrees.  "Adrien's shitty self-esteem, though? That's all on his shitty dad." 

"We should probably get back to school," Alya says reluctantly, but she makes no move to get up. 

"Alya," Nino says, sounding like the words are being dragged out of him.  "If they're this obvious, and it's just the magic that kept us from noticing before... why would the magic drop us like this?" 

Alya's silent, thinking about Adrien being thrown past them. All the times Marinette's been late or exhausted or both. All the times Chat Noir's run to take a hit to protect Ladybug.  How much closer some of the recent fights have been. "They're in trouble, aren't they."

"Yeah." Nino hugs her back. "Yeah, I think they are." 

They don't beat their friends back to school, but only because they don't go back to school, and they find out later that neither do Adrien or Marinette. That's not actually that suspicious- their school has been pretty accommodating with schedules due to its abnormally high number of akuma events. That abnormally high number finally makes sense now, because Alya's always been reasonably sure that magic calls to magic; if they have both Ladybug and Chat Noir in their class it must make them a magnet for trouble.  If anyone has any other magic, and frankly Alya's not going to rule that out, they're even more of a target. 

They talk about going to Alya's, but with her sisters there's no privacy, and that same lack of privacy applies to Nino's place as well so they opt to stay on the roof after all and claim the akuma attack stranded them (not technically a lie, and it's not like their friends can call them out on it) so that they can make plans. 

After all, their friends need them. 

The next day, when they've miraculously managed to hold onto both their best friends all the way through school, and even gotten them halfway to the bakery for a study group- they've even got Adrien on board- there's another akuma alert. 

"Are they getting closer together?" Nino asks, disbelieving, listening to panicked screams from down the street and not bothering to run.  He knows his girlfriend is going to run towards the fight. He knows his best friends are going to run towards the fight. As this point, he figures he might as well give in to fate. 

"I have to go, right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons," Marinette says faintly, staring at the worryingly large clouds of smoke now trailing above buildings. Nino really hopes it's not another fire akuma. He really hates fire akuma. 

"Me too," Adrien says. "Unrelated. Immediate. Uh, bye?" 

And then they both race off in different directions. 

"Well," Alya says. "Thank god for magic?" 

"No," Nino says. "No, you know what, that's still unacceptable. How did we never notice them being this weird?" 

"We met them this year," Alya reminds him. "Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up at literally the same time. They've never _not_ been weird around us." 

"Don't make me think about them being superheroes as long as we've known them," Nino pleads. "My brain has been hurt enough recently.  And I already knew Marinette anyway!"

"She always this weird?" 

Nino scowls. "Well, kind of.  I think she used to be on time for stuff, but I honestly can't remember anymore."

"And I honestly don't know if that's your memory or the magic at work," Alya tells him. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I have to go, right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons" is from a conversation with shinobicyrus while watching the show, because these kids are actually terrible at excuses, and I AM AN IDIOT WHO FORGOT IT WAS FROM THAT CONVERSATION


	2. Chapter 2

It isn't much later that Rena Rouge happens.

Alya can't get away until the next day, not when she's already promised to spend time with Marinette (and the irony is painful), but as soon as she can she meets Nino on what's fast becoming 'their' rooftop. He wonders if they're already copying Ladybug and Chat Noir by claiming a rooftop meeting place but honestly, he knows his friends; they probably meet at the Eiffel Tower or something equally overly dramatic. Personally, Nino prefers his unassuming random rooftop.

"Explain!" he yells at Alya as she scrambles up the fire escape.

"Ah ha ha... explain what?" Alya says sheepishly.

"I know that was you, Alya!" Nino shouts.

"You don't _know_ that," Alya protests.

Nino gestures wildly at her, too upset to speak.

"All right fine it was me!" Alya snaps. "But Ladybug made me promise not to tell anyone, so you _don't_ know that, got it?"

"Oh of course not! Alya, come on, who would believe me? No one's noticed those two and you know where Adrien changed the other day? Behind a park bench! He dove behind a park bench! Alya it has slats, how has no one caught them? Magic, that's how! Magic because they are both morons!" Out of breath, Nino dropped to the roof and panted, "I did not sign up for this."

"Chat Noir did your stupid handshake," Alya says. "The one you and Adrien made up."

Nino groans. "I know, Alya."

"The one that's got like six steps in order.  The one Adrien got so excited about and overcomplicated because he's only read about secret handshakes. Same one.  Also? Sunshine boy didn't notice that I shouldn't know it."

Nino groans louder. "I know, Alya!"

"Aw, don't worry, babe," Alya says, sitting down beside him and patting him on the shoulder. "If the magic dropping us was supposed to mean this would happen, then you're due to be a superhero too."

"Alya I don't want that," Nino moans into his cupped hands.

"So do you prefer leather or spandex?"

"I hate you. I hate all of you, actually, you know that? Every one of you."

"I wonder what your kwami will be like. Chat Noir says his can be annoying."

"What my _what_ will be like?"

"I knew you were curious!"

"Because I have literally never heard the word kwami before!"

"Fine, fine!" Alya throws her head back and laughs, taking mercy on him at last. "So the Miraculous have spirits in them apparently. My... spirit guide thing... is Trixx, the fox."

"Do I get to meet him?" Nino asks  suspiciously.

Alya blinks. "You know, I'm not actually sure Trixx is a him? It was kind of hard to tell... anyway, no, Ladybug took my Miraculous back for safekeeping." She stops to scowl at nothing. "Which sucks, y'know? Trixx is cool. I want to get to know my kwami."

"You know, whatever I did to deserve this kind of karma in a past life, I am deeply sorry," Nino mutters.

A few days later, when there's an akuma attack during gym, their instructor refuses to accept Adrien and Marinette's (admittedly terrible, but increasingly frantic) excuses. Finally Nino sighs, raises his hand, and recites in a flat voice, "I have to leave, right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons," before getting up and walking out without waiting for an answer.

Alya catches up with him in the hallway, grinning.

"Not a word," he snaps.

"They got out," Alya says happily. "I mean, everyone did, we all just left when we realised no one actually stopped you, but they're oh shit Nino I have to get to the fight."

"To record it or join in?" he asks tiredly.

Alya shrugs. "At this point? I'll take either or."

So that's a thing, now. If their friends can't get out of an obligation on their own, Nino or Alya steps in. (Alya admits she's pretty sure she'd been doing that already, just without realising it). If Alya's needed too, Nino steps in.

And any time Rena Rouge joins the heroes, Alya joins Nino on their roof shortly after.

She eyes his setup, amused, as she nearly vaults off the fire escape. "Where'd you get the blanket?" It's bright orange with fox paw prints.

"Marinette," he admits grudgingly.

Alya raises an eyebrow.

"Calm down, I just said I was a Rena Rouge fan," he mutters, smoothing the cloth beneath him. The paw prints are fuzzier than the rest of the blanket, Alya notes with further amusement. "Which was actively painful, by the way, Marinette clearly thinks it's the funniest thing she's ever heard." He scowls down at the blanket. "She promised not to tell you."

Blinking, Alya says, "Not to tell me what?"

Nino groans. "She told me she wouldn't tell you, Alya, that I have a crush on Rena Rouge!"

"Do you?" Alya asks, amused.

"We're dating!" Nino shouts at her.

Alya's grinning as she says, mock offended, "You're cheating on me with Rena Rouge? And you didn't tell me? Betrayal! Betrayal most foul!"

"Okay, I hate everyone," Nino mutters. "Akumatize me now, because I hate everyone."

"Oh man yes," Alya says. "Akumatize him now Hawkmoth, because now that absolutely means I get to kick his ass."

"Why," Nino asks her.

"I know your dirty secrets, babe."

"You know," Nino says, waving around himself at the blanket and slumping back a little, "I went out of my way to get you a place to decompress. A blanket. A picnic. Your boyfriend. What more do you want from me?"

"The world," Alya assures him, settling down on the blanket. "I want you to get me the world, Nino."

"Okay, no. One supervillain at a time is enough. Also?" He points at her. "I remember LadyWifi! You're terrifying!"

She snorts. "Says you. _Bubbler_."

"Low blow."

"I hate to come down to your level but no, actually, I don't, I have zero problem coming down to your level. You started it, bubble boy." She punches him in the arm. She's quickly becoming more athletic since gaining a Miraculous and quite frankly Nino isn't sure how he feels about it. He's pretty sure his girlfriend can bench press him.

By now, he's pretty sure all his friends can bench press him, and he's _really_ not sure how he feels about that.

Nino rubs at his arm and relents. "Sure, okay, at least Lady Wifi didn't look like a rejected Halloween costume."

"Rena Rouge could kick Lady Wifi's ass."

"Alya!"

"What? It's true." Alya flexes and continues, relentlessly, "I heard Rena Rouge has an eight-pack."

"I really, genuinely did not sign up for this life. I didn't." Nino pulls away to rummage through his backpack for the picnic he really does have.

"I heard Rena Rouge is shredded."

"Rena Rouge is a punk ass bitch," Nino says and throws a sandwich at her.

Alya deftly snags it out of the air, meets his eyes, and takes a massive bite.

"I am good and pure and have done nothing to deserve any of this," Nino tells her.

"I hate to tell you this, babe, but you just described Adrien and he beat us to the punch," Alya says, looking inordinately pleased.

"Alya I swear to god, if I see video later and find out he got in a punch before you I'll- I'll-"

"You'll what?" Alya says smugly.

"I will start buying Marinette replica Ladybug yo-yos and telling her I heard she wanted to learn yo-yo tricks," Nino threatens. "When she starts panicking for a response _you_ get to deal."

"You wouldn't do that to her," Alya laughs. "You'd want to calm her down just as much as me."

"Well." Nino frowns down at his own sandwich. "Yeah. Our friends are enough of a mess."  After a moment he mutters, "Adrien didn't know how much a carton of milk cost."

Alya groans and says, "While we definitely need to get Sunshine out more, have I told you what the worst part of akuma battles is?"

"There's a worst?" Nino eyes her apprehensively. "You're literally fighting supervillains."

"Nino," she says dramatically, flinging an arm across her eyes and sprawling backwards, half-eaten sandwich abandoned beside her. "Babe. Please. Think about this. Think about the Ladyblog. Think about Chat Noir and Ladybug's dynamic."

"Dude flirts with Ladybug all the- No."

"Babe. Yes."

"No."

"Nino, babe, it could be so much worse. You don't have to hear them in battle." She snags the remains of her sandwich without looking up and adds, ominously, "Yet."

"They are cockblocking themselves," Nino says, staring out into space, horrified.

"They sure are," Alya agrees.  "It was funny for a while. Now? Now I want to hit them both with my flute. Because I can do that, Nino. I can hit Ladybug and Chat Noir with a magic flute."

"Hey, remember the whole thing where I'm not supposed to know that?" Nino hisses. Realistically, it isn't like anyone is likely to stumble on them up here, but the two people who actually _might_ are also the only two who know the significance behind Alya's teasing.

"All right, all right," Alya relents. Then she grins, evilly. "So! We haven't talked yet about how you totally had a crush on Ladybug!"

"You know what, on second thought, let's go back to talking about forbidden things."

"Aw it's okay babe," Alya says, grinning. "Really. I think everyone's had a bit of a crush on Ladybug. You, me, Chat Noir..." She pauses dramatically. "Chloe."

"Oh god!" Nino chokes. "Oh god, you're right! Chloe dresses up as Ladybug in her spare time!" His laughter starts becoming slightly hysterical. "She makes Sabrina dress up like Chat Noir, oh my _god_."

"How even do you know that?" Alya asks, amused.

"Hey, I know things." Nino wipes at his eyes. "I mean, I hate knowing things, but I know things."

To Nino's faint horror, Kim, Alix, and Nathaniel absolutely do start an akuma club. Adrien and Marinette both turn down their invitations, as does Alya, all of them claiming they're too busy, and Nino only goes to one meeting before deciding no, he doesn't really want to do this.

Alix has recreated her akuma costume at some point and is trying to get the rest of them to do the same.

"Come on," she's urging, standing on a desk and wobbling back and forth on her skates, which Nino is positive is going to result in broken bones for _someone_. "It's great, you can reclaim it! Change it! Make it your superhero persona instead, right, Nathaniel?"

Nathaniel looks up from his sketchbook and smiles. "Exactly.  It sucked, but the powers and the outfit were pretty cool."

Nino thinks glumly about what, exactly, his akuma had looked like and wonders if Hawkmoth has some kind of personal vendetta against him.

He doesn't go to another club meeting.

He doesn't want to think about what he'd be like as a superhero, anyway.

When they split up for teams in dodgeball and Alya instantly claims Marinette for her team, Nino tries to grab Adrien, but--

"Oh no, I call dibs on Sunshine here, too," Alya teases him.

"I thought we were playing boys against girls?" Nino says faintly, looking at Marinette's expression and seeing his life flash before his eyes. Marinette has a competitive streak. Marinette has always had a competitive streak. Marinette's competitive streak has become exponentially worse, because Chat Noir and Ladybug are constantly daring each other to do stupid, stupid things on patrol, and Nino knows this because Alya either a)records them or b) joins in, depending on who she's being at the time.

He didn't need to know that Marinette is capable of throwing Adrien halfway across the city, or that Adrien will let her, or that they'll both happily free-fall from the Eiffel Tower to play chicken with the ground. He is frankly horrified to know any of that.

Alya huffs and flips her hair back. "We are, but Adrien is sunshine and light and therefore totally eligible to join the girl's side, unlike the rest of you, who are terrible dirty boys."

Adrien does not look like he knows how to feel about this development.

"Babe," Nino says. "Why."

The look Alya gives him is going to feature prominently in his nightmares (not only in his nightmares, but that's an entirely different problem for Nino to try desperately to ignore).

Marinette playing dodgeball has always been terrifying. Marinette on a team with Alya and Adrien is going to kill Nino, make him lose his mind, or both at once.

"Cover me!" Alya yells and races for the boys' team's basket while Adrien blocks and Marinette becomes a deadly dance of thrown and rebounded dodgeballs. Resigned, Nino waits as everyone around him goes down like bowling pins, then steps aside and out of Alya's way at the last moment.

"You didn't even try, dude," Kim complains from the floor.

"That," Nino says, "Is because I value my _life_."

Marinette is definitely not a stuttering mess around Adrien when they have a mutual target. Watching them decimate the other team, even after Alix gets Alya out with a lucky strike (because Alix had switched teams to 'keep it even' when Alya claimed Adrien and their class is _terrible_ about following even their own rules), Nino has no idea how they don't know they're partners.

When a ball nearly hits Adrien in the shins, even though that's not a target area, Marinette power slides in front of him to catch it. When Marinette's nearly hit by a rebound, Adrien jumps- just a little higher than seems, honestly, humanly possible- catches it, and knocks Max out of the game with the rebound.

"New rule," Nino says, staring as Adrien drops into a crouch and Marinette leapfrogs over him to catch Ivan's throw. "Those two can never, ever be on the same team."

"Yeah, I agree," Nathaniel says. "This is terrifying."

Nino would like to say he's only worried because to him this is the most obvious evidence he's seen yet of their alter egos, but it won't be obvious to anyone else because magic is weird as hell, and also? Nathaniel is right. This is terrifying.

Once Alya's rotated back in, Nino very deliberately moves in front of a ball, lets it hit him, and goes to sit on the sidelines and quietly consider his life choices. Then he quietly tries to return to a state of denial about his life choices.

At least the game is reassuring in some ways. His friends so clearly have each other's backs without even thinking about it. Marinette doesn't stutter or stammer or trip over her words once while they play, too focused and determined and Ladybug, and Adrien looks happier than he has all week- happier than he ever does as Adrien; his smile is pure Chat Noir. The two of them never falter, but even if they had Alya's right there to back them up.

Of course, the second the game ends (with Adrien and Marinette the last two standing, and Nino's honestly shocked they didn't go for Ladybug and Chat Noir's traditional after-battle cry- anyone else would have but he thinks this is another of their misguided attempts to protect their identities), Adrien compliments Marinette and Marinette promptly turns bright red and forgets how to form words.

Nino's glad when the akuma alert goes off this time because this is getting painful.

"Well," Alya says, brushing herself off and darting a glance at their friends before looking back to Nino. "Time to go, right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons?"

He sighs. "You're never going to let that go, are you?"

"Oh, hell no."

"Your girl did it first," Nino points out.

"My girl is terrible about this," Alya agrees fondly.

Nino sighs and follows her out of the building as everyone else goes running past.  Nino has stopped running for akuma alerts by now. It's so rarely effective enough to be worth it. "I didn't sign up to be a parent, Alya."

"And I didn't sign up to be a single mom, so you're coming along for the ride, Nino," Alya says.

"I have to leave right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons"  becomes their code phrase during attacks. It's how Rena Rouge gets to the scene on time, it's how Nino slips out of obligations to go to their rooftop, it's how Marinette and Adrien ditch Nino and Alya, it's how Alya and Nino ditch Marinette and Adrien, and eventually it's how their entire class ditches everything. Nino is reasonably certain everyone thinks it's only Alya's excuse to post updates on the Ladyblog, which, well, they aren't completely wrong.

An alert comes during a class where Alix has spent half the class period trying to wheedle Mme. Bustier into letting her leave early to go to a skating competetition. When the alert sounds, Alix raises her hand and says brightly, "Mme. Bustier, I have to leave, right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons," and Nino chokes.

There's a huge sale on designer purses during school hours and Chloe says, "I have to leave right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons," and pulls Sabrina out the door after her as Marinette turns interesting colours.

When Adrien's dad flakes (flakes worse, it isn't like he'd ever deign to be here in person) and his tablet goes dark during a competition, Kim dramatically stage whispers "I have to go, right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons" and Adrien laughs until he has tears in his eyes, which, really, would be worth it all on its own.

Thirty seconds after that one there's an actual akuma and _everyone_ is insisting they have to go right now immediately, but by then Nino's heard Principal Damocles use it at least twice to go be Knight Owl so no one stops their class.

They don't need Rena Rouge and the akuma's easy to get a good view of, so Nino and Alya head straight for their roof. (By now they've realised the apartment they've been hanging out on top of is empty and for rent, and it's giving Nino terrible ideas).

"Well," Alya says, collapsing to the blanket that they've stopped bothering to put away unless the weather's bad. "This is way more fun than I expected, but also, holy shit am I stressed."

"Don't be stressed," Nino pleads, joining her and running his hands absently over the fuzzy pawprints. "Being stressed is how you end up akumatized."

"I'm safe babe, I've already done my round with  the butterflies," Alya laughs, catching his hand. "No one gets akumatized twice."

"Okay, first? Ivan. Second? Just because something hasn't happened before doesn't mean it can't happen at all!"

"Babe, breathe," Alya says gently, stroking the back of his hand lightly. "If either of us is in danger, it's you.  Aside from my, uh, extra level of protection, you are definitely the more stressed of the two of us."

"I am not-" Nino stops.

They both watch in silence as a black butterfly flaps past, heading for someone at street level.

Silently, barely daring to breathe and wincing at what he's about to do, _knowing_ it's the dumbest thing he could do but not seeing much of a choice, Nino reaches out and catches it before it can continue on towards its target.

They don't move.

Nino starts breathing again as the butterfly struggles against his hold, but doesn't akumatize him.

"Alya," he says, watching it. "When was the last time an akuma actually got us? Not, like, threw Chat Noir past us. Actually got us, turned us into knights or mummies or whatever."

"It was before we realised," Alya says, also watching the butterfly. "What, you don't think maybe I was right about no one getting akumatized twice? Unless you're Ivan."

"Alya, I think we're immune to magic." Nino upends the picnic basket he leaves here more frequently than he remembers to bring it home, empties it, and traps the butterfly inside. "I think that's what happened when we figured it out."

Alya blinks. "Um... because we figured it out, or in order for us to figure it out?"

"I don't know! Either! Both! I have no idea," Nino groans, before handing her the basket. "Also, I'm pretty sure these things can phase, so maybe we should contact Ladybug? Quickly?"

"This would be so much easier if I could just text Marinette," Alya grumbles, fumbling with her phone to take a picture of the trapped butterfly. She uploads it to the 'possible akuma sightings' section of the Ladyblog with the caption 'a little help please?'

Chat Noir and Ladybug are both at the rooftop in minutes.

"How did you-" Ladybug starts, staring at the trapped akuma.

"Nice place," Chat Noir says, looking around. "Ours is better."

Nino thinks it's possible getting akumatized again would have been less painful.

Alya points at Nino. "Don't look at me, Ladybug, Nino here just sort of reached out and, well, grabbed it."

Nino waves awkwardly.

"What do you mean, yours is better?" Alya asks Ladybug. "Do you two have your own rooftop we should know about?" Her smile goes calculating. "Or do you mean the apartment?"

"It's not our apartment," Nino says quickly. "It's not anyone's apartment. Please don't ask about the apartment."

"What apartment?" Chat Noir asks immediately.

"Kitty," Ladybug scolds him, but she's laughing. "Don't be rude."

"Hey, if these two know where we can get a reasonable apartment, I want to know," Chat Noir insists with a grin. "I'd love to purrvide you with a suitable place to stay, milady."

Ladybug takes the akuma from Alya and purifies it before, to Nino's horror, continuing the conversation. Shouldn't they be leaving? Shouldn't the two of them be getting away from their friends so they don't risk their identities?

Wait, he saw Marinette dive behind a glass door to change yesterday. Glass. They are so bad at this.  
  
"I don't know, chaton, moving in together before we've even kissed? I thought you were a gentleman," Ladybug is saying teasingly.

"Well, apparently we can give Nino here a flyswatter and point him at Hawkmoth, so I have all the time in the world to devote to you," Chat Noir says with a flourishing bow in Ladybug's direction and a grin directed at Nino.

"Please," Nino says. "Please do not point me at Hawkmoth, dude. I have no idea what just happened."

"You grabbed an akuma," Alya says helpfully. "Out of the air. You saw an akuma heading for someone down below and just snagged it out of the air, babe. With your bare hands.  _Like a badass_."

Through gritted teeth, Nino says, "Thank you Alya."

"I didn't know that was possible," Ladybug says, startled.

Nino throws his hands up. "Neither did I! I didn't think about it, okay, I just saw it going by and- it was a reflex, all right? I didn't want to have an akuma show up right below us."

"That's a hell of a reflex," Chat Noir says, dropping into a crouch and peering over the edge of the building, and Nino dies a little inside because that is not the posture of someone who plans on leaving anytime soon.

Ladybug steps up beside her partner and loops one arm around his shoulders, scanning the street for the akuma's originally intended victim, and Nino and Alya exchange disbelieving looks.

Marinette is incapable of touching Adrien without demonstrating an entire palette of reds. In ten minutes on a rooftop, Nino is not sure Ladybug and Chat Noir have been out of physical contact for more than a few moments at a time.

"Over there," Ladybug says at last, leaning more of her weight into Chat Noir to point.  "The guy at the hot dog stand, he look stressed to you?"

"He looks like vending for himself is taking a lot out of him, My Lady."

"Hmm. Think a visit from his favorite superheroes will cheer him up, mon minou?"

Alya and Nino might as well not be there anymore. Nino's vaguely offended- this is _their_ roof. The other two have all of Paris to choose from.

"Do you two want anything?" Chat Noir calls back as he and his partner ready themselves to leap off the roof, and Nino grudgingly relents enough to admit that they're definitely still his friends. They're under no obligation to get anything for Nino and Alya.

"Yeah, actually, the akuma kinda ended up in our picnic basket, so," Alya says. "But we're not very picky. Surprise us."

Chat Noir and Ladybug return almost twenty minutes later with Nino and Alya's favorites, because of course they do.

"Hope we guessed right," Ladybug says, sitting down on their blanket and spreading out their spoils. Chat Noir drops down beside her and the two of them immediately gravitate to each other's side like magnets.

They're having a rooftop picnic with Ladybug and Chat Noir. Actually, Nino's reasonably sure they're on a double date with Ladybug and Chat Noir at this point, but their respective best friends are idiots so he isn't about to point that out.

"This is a nice blanket," Chat Noir says. "Are you fans of Rena Rouge?"

Nino wants to scream.

When Nino does finally end up with Wayzz, it's nowhere near as peaceful as Alya's becoming Rena Rouge. (Not that immediate family members being akumatized is peaceful, but- they live in Paris. Unless you're Marinette and therefore unreasonably lucky, it happens). It's not even during a battle, so he supposes by their standards this _is_ peaceful, but the inside of Nino's head is anything but.

The thing is, Nino had an actual, valid reason to be at Master Fu's place. At least, he'd thought he had. He supposes he did, just not the reason he'd thought.

"You're a Guardian," Nino says, not taking his eyes off Wayzz as the little kwami hovers closer.

"I am," Master Fu agrees calmly.

"You want me to be a Guardian."

"I do," Master Fu says, turning to pour a cup of tea.

"I'm not," Nino says, a little desperately. "I'm not a Guardian. I just wanted to see if you had gift certificates.  For massages."

"You did," Master Fu agrees. "You wanted three, yes? One for your girlfriend, and..." He pauses and gives Nino a significant look. Nino hates significant looks.

"For our best friends," he says, defeated. "They're stressed. I thought it would help."

Master Fu laughs gently. "You say you aren't a Guardian, yet here you are, shouldering your responsibilities well ahead of time."

"Well, someone has to," Nino says grudgingly. "All my friends are hopeless."

"Master Fu," Wayzz says softly.  "I'm ready if you are.'

"You really don't have to choose me," Nino tries one last time. "I'm nothing special."

Master Fu laughs again. "Oh, young man. I didn't choose you. I chose Chat Noir and Ladybug, and Ladybug chose Rena Rouge; but the Guardian is not chosen.  The Guardian proves themselves to the kwami."

"I haven't done that," Nino protests weakly. "I haven't done anything like that."

Wayzz zips forward, looping once around Nino's head and coming to hover in front of him. "You broke yourself free of magic's influence, on your own. Not even the black cat and ladybug can do that.  You did it with no powers."

"My girlfriend did it too," Nino says. "Besides, doesn't that mean you _can't_ make me the Guardian, if I'm- if I'm immune to magic now?"

"Your own Miraculous will always be an exception," Wayzz tells him. "And unlike Rena Rouge, you will retain your invulnerability to all outside magical influences even when transformed.  While it is unusual for her to have broken the glamour as well, it's likely a result of her bond with you, just as Ladybug and Chat Noir draw strength from each other."

"This is the part where I wake up from the coma, isn't it?" Nino asks.

Wayzz laughs. Nino doesn't particularly want to admit how reassuring the sound is.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

They don't trust Carapace, right at the beginning.  That's kind of disheartening, but, well, Ladybug knows who Rena Rouge is, and Chat Noir knows that she knows, and Carapace showed up out of the blue.

And once Chat Noir takes him aside and tells him in a low voice about Volpina, Nino gets why they would maybe be wary. He honestly would love to just go ahead and tell Chat Noir that it's him but Wayzz is very adamant that he not do that, and upsetting his kwami seems like maybe not the best idea Nino's ever had. Still. It doesn't seem fair that now Adrien's the only one with no idea who the others are.

Even if Nino is kind of having fun leading his civilian friends in circles about his identity.

He and Alya, they've swiftly discovered, have the same level of magical identity protection that their friends do- and their friends aren't immune to it. Sure, Alya has still had to be careful because Marinette knows it's her _and_ Alya can't let her know in turn that she knows it's Marinette (and Nino still hates this), but Nino has no such worries. Nino's just the civilian they see on a rooftop sometimes.

Nino switches all his chat handles to Leonardo, buys a turtle shell backpack, and gets a tank that he very deliberately sets up for a turtle and then leaves empty.

Alya throws a pillow and the backpack at him, laughing, and their friends notice nothing different.

In the beginning, Wayzz doesn't stay with Nino, much like Trixx doesn't stay with Alya. Wayzz and Master Fu are still bonded, after all, and Nino won't take that from them. It's good, honestly; it works for them. It lets Nino and Alya have conversations in privacy, still.

"Do you still miss Trixx when we're not fighting?" Nino asks one night when they've gone to the roof after returning their respective jewelry.

"Kinda?" Alya hums. "Trixx is cool, but I have you. I don't really need the constant companion aspect."

"Yeah, that's true. Wayzz is great, but I don't know if I could handle him all the time." His kwami is a little too stiffly formal still for them to be completely comfortable with each other. Nino crosses his arms behind his head and looks up at the- well, at the light pollution, if he's being honest. He loves his city (more now that he's one of the people protecting it), but it isn't the best location for stargazing. "But you know what? The idea that Adrien has a kwami with him all the time is such a huge relief.  Like, I know Marinette gets anxious and I'm happy she has her kwami around for that, but I always hated thinking of Adrien going home to be all by himself in that stupid empty mansion."

"I get you." Alya rolls over. "It's nice to think that Sunshine isn't alone when we can't be there.  And that Marinette has like... a service kwami? I feel like that's kinda disrespectful to her kwami, but I think Trixx'd fine it funny."

"Yeah." Nino sighs. "You realise if we have this timeline totally right, and because I refuse to count Chloe, Ladybug's the first friend Adrien ever made?"

"And he's besotted," Alya says. "Bets that she was the first person our age to actually be kind to him? Our boy has issues, babe. Both our children have issues but Sunshine's in trouble."

"Oh is it joint custody now?" Nino asks, amused. "I thought one was enough for you."

"One was enough for you," Alya corrects him. "I, as the superior guardian, love both our sunshine children equally."

"I'm literally the Guardian," Nino tells her. "If it comes to a custody hearing, I'm a shoo-in."

"If it comes to- oh, crap, checkers alert."

Nino looks up as Chat Noir and Ladybug swing by, only to wheel wide and come back to their rooftop.

"Hey," Chat Noir greets brightly. "Just thought we'd _drop_ in." He chuckles.

Alya sits up. "Out patrolling? Even after the akuma earlier?"

"Yeah, well." Chat scratches at the back of his head, smiling sadly as Ladybug lands next to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Turns out we were both pretty restless. Looks like we weren't the only ones."

Alya shrugs. "I have siblings. If a rooftop retreat is what I have to do for some privacy, I'll take it."

Chat's smile isn't reaching his eyes and Ladybug isn't letting him move away from her, ruffling his hair instead as Chat Noir crouches at her side. Alarm bells are going off somewhere in Nino's soul and now, minutes after he's said he's okay with not always having Wayzz he finds himself wishing he did, because he hates seeing that look in his friend's eyes and he'd love some advice on how to make it go away.

"Wanna hang out?" Nino offers, because at this point in his life, honestly, why not. "No one is expecting us back any time soon, we've got time to spare."

Chat Noir hesitates. "We probably shouldn't.  We have responsibilities."

"The city will be fine for one night, kitty," Ladybug says softly, tugging him closer against her side and looking up at Nino and Alya. "I hate to interrupt your date."

"It's nothing," Alya says, waving them down. "We're really only decompressing, we had a wild day."

"Caught up in the akuma attack?" Chat asks sympathetically.

Carapace and Chat Noir had worked together to punt the akuma into the Lucky Charm volleyball net Rena Rouge and Ladybug had been holding.  The attack might have been terrifying, in the way most of the attacks are, but Nino can't deny how satisfying punting someone across the city was, or how enjoyable the easy teamwork between the four of them is becoming. "Um. Yeah.  Wrong place at the wrong time, I guess."

"Won't your parents be worried?" Ladybug asks.

Alya snorts.

"No, probably not," Nino says. "Mine, anyway. They trust me to stay out of the way."

"Honestly? I think my folks trust you to keep everyone safe, Ladybug," Alya says. "Me, I don't think they trust so much."

"Alya," Nino says, "That's probably because you run _towards_ the akuma. Which, please, can we stop? Can we stop doing that?"

"Who's we?" Alya retorts. "No one is making you come with."

That is manifestly not true, but whatever immunity the two of them share has obviously not yet spread to Adrien and Marinette, so they don't know they're talking to Carapace as well as Rena Rouge. "You putting yourself in danger is what makes me come with."

"Is this what we sound like?" Chat Noir stage whispers.

"Reverse it," Alya tells him. "Also, come on, you two, sit with us. We have plenty of food. No akuma in it this time, promise."

"I still can't believe you did that," Ladybug says, sitting down and pulling Chat Noir after her. She doesn't seem bothered when he droops all the way to the blanket and puts his head in her lap.

"I also can't believe I did that," Nino says, watching with faint disbelief as Ladybug starts scratching behind Chat Noir's ears and his eyes close. Nino is sure he hears purring.

Nino thinks about Marinette trying to ask Adrien to come to the park with them earlier and short-circuiting. He's sure his friends are going to be the death of him. Possibly literally, considering that outing to the park was cut short when everyone scattered to fight a fifteen foot tall volleyball player; but also he's going to die of frustration.

He tries to figure out what even happened tonight. The akuma hadn't been great, but that was hours ago, and it hadn't even been a very bad one. Mostly they'd just had to be up on their dodging, which, well. Nino's long had proof that they're all very, very good at that, but he's very glad that the magic protects them, because he'd definitely seen Chat Noir and Ladybug pull the exact same leapfrog maneuver that his friends favour. (Dodgeball is a regular thing now, because Alix is a traitor who'd suggested to their gym teacher that it was good training for what to do if an akuma was after you, and Nino hates everyone who keeps angling to get Marinette and Adrien on their team together). It definitely wasn't enough to account for Chat Noir being this down.

Except that, actually, Nino is pretty sure Adrien was scheduled for a photo shoot today- which the akuma would definitely have cut into. By now, they all know from experience that Adrien's dad doesn't accept 'the city was literally on fire' as an excuse for missing a shoot, much less an akuma that mostly seemed confused about the difference between volleyball, dodgeball, and soccer.

Seriously, Hawkmoth is weird. Paris is a big city- there have to be people upset over saner things.

Hawkmoth is also still at the top of the list of people Nino wants to punch, but as soon as he's done that he's going to go kick Gabriel Agreste in the dick.

Alya starts rummaging through the picnic basket, coming up with their last two sandwiches and macaroons from Marinette's parent's bakery. "Here, you two take these, we always bring more than we can eat."

"Why?" Chat Noir rumbles, not moving from Ladybug's lap.

Alya shrugs. "Eyes are bigger than our stomachs?"

"No, I meant why're you givin' me one," Chat Noir clarifies. He starts to roll over, but Ladybug stills him with one hand on his shoulder and another on his head.

It has to be killing Alya not to take photos or video right now.

"You need to eat, kitty," Ladybug says. "You're getting too thin. Again."

"Can't eat. Diet," Chat Noir mumbles.

"Dude," Nino says. "You absolutely do not need to be on a diet."

"See, kitten?" Ladybug says, tucking a lock of hair behind Chat's ear.  "Nino agrees with me."

Chat Noir heaves out a breath and pushes his head further into Ladybug's hand. "Not my choice, LB. My... uh. It'll be bad for me if I get caught going off-diet."

"Does your diet account for running around in a catsuit at night?" Alya asks. Ladybug shoots her a grateful look. "Because I'm guessing no, Chat Noir. Listen to your Lady, you're way too skinny."

"You really kind of are, dude," Nino puts in, grabbing a sandwich and handing it to Ladybug. "Look, tuna sandwich. Bet it's your favorite."

Chat lifts his head.

"Free food," Ladybug says, handing it over.

"Bad idea," Chat Noir says. "Don't you two know if you feed a stray it sticks around?"

"Maybe we don't object to that?" Alya suggests. "Listen, our rooftop's pretty private, but we're hardly hiding from the two of you. Honestly you're like the only people in Paris we _aren't_ hidden from right now." She tilts her head and adds, "I mean, unless our best friends find us up here, we'd be fine with that.  I don't think they're really the type to go scrambling up rooftops, though."

Nino wishes he could glare at her for that.  Oh wait, he can, their friends aren't going to notice.  

"I wouldn't want to intrude," Ladybug says softly as Chat Noir scrambles upright and leans against her side to unwrap his sandwich. He breaks it in half and tries to give her the larger half. Ladybug pushes it back to him. "Seriously, Chat, eat."

"If we thought you were intruding, we wouldn't have picked a spot you're likely to stumble into," Alya points out. "Also? I'm still Ladybug's biggest fan, joining our date nights is absolutely not something I will ever, ever object to."

"Uh," Ladybug says, blinking and glancing at Chat Noir before swiftly changing the subject. "You know, I know you're not usually alone up here, but are you sure you're safe from akuma?"

Nino shrugs. "I have a flyswatter."

Ladybug chokes.

"Why don't we ever get that for a Lucky Charm?" Chat Noir asks, licking his fingers. Once he'd gotten over protesting he'd devoured the sandwich heartbreakingly quickly. Ladybug looks at him silently and then pushes her sandwich into his hands. This time, Chat doesn't argue with her.

"Because we still have to get the butterfly in the open?" Ladybug suggests. "Once we have it I don't usually need Lucky Charm."

"No, you misunderstand, I want to find Hawkmoth and hit him with a flyswatter," Chat explains patiently, flopping back into Ladybug's lap now that he's eaten. She rolls her eyes but starts petting his hair again.

"You and all of Paris, dude," Nino says. "Anyway, Alya keeps games in her bag. You two wanna play Cards Against Humanity? We have the Paris' Superheroes expansion.  It's not as much fun with only two people, though."

"I'm game," Chat Noir says immediately.

"Are you going to put this on the Ladyblog?" Ladybug asks.

Alya shrugs. "Honestly? Not if you don't want me to. You guys just kinda look like you need to decompress, too."

"I know how much it would mean to you," Ladybug says softly.

"Girl, you two spend all your free time saving Paris," Alya says.  "You need a break more than I need to update."

"Well, thanks," Ladybug says. "In that case... yes, let's play."

"Do you think we can play music on our weapons?" Chat Noir asks thoughtfully, apparently planning to play from Ladybug's lap. Nino's not sure how he feels about this anymore. "It'd be nice to have music while we play."

"I think at this point if you told me our weapons responded to the phrase 'Alexa play Despacito' I would not actually be surprised. They seem to do everything," Ladybug says. Before she can say anything else, Chat Noir is snagging her yo-yo and handing it to her, eyes large and pleading.

"Try it," he says. "Please try it."

Nino hates the fact that he's now pretty sure he can count on hearing Despacito play at least once a battle.

It says something that playing Cards Against Humanity on a rooftop with his girlfriend, Ladybug, and Chat Noir is not the weirdest part of Nino's day. (The akuma still wins that). More than that, it slowly becomes a regular thing for the heroes to join them, at least once Alya promises that 'date night' will never appear on the Ladyblog.

"Hey, I want privacy sometimes, too," she says when Ladybug and Chat Noir both express surprise.

(Their date nights are playing board games with superheroes. Why is his life like this).

It's great, honestly- Nino is having fun, Alya is beyond thrilled, and their friends really do look less stressed out during the day. It does, however, mean that Nino and Alya have a little more difficulty having private discussions.

"They have pet names for each other, Nino," Alya groans, hiding under their fire escape in case their roof is already occupied. "They have pet names. They cuddle. The trash talk flirting, oh my god, I'm going to have to kill them before they kill me. It'll be self-defense."

"It'll be helping Hawkmoth win," Nino says dryly. "Imagine if he could weaponize crushes _oh wait_. And I'm the only one with a magic shield!"

"Okay, we're reasonably sure they're immune, though," Alya points out. "Because honestly, if they weren't? Marinette alone should have gone dark side months ago. Girl stresses about everything."

"Okay, but you have to be really angry or really scared or something to get akumatized, right?" Nino says. "I was way furious at Adrien's asshole dad. You were mad at Chloe, like half the akumas we see are. Marinette stresses, but she doesn't usually-" He falters at Alya's expression. "I'm wrong, aren't I?"

"Trust me, her breakdowns qualify," Alya assures him. "Can't speak for Adrien, I've never really seen that boy angry.  I've seen plenty of times he _should_ be angry..."

Nino raises his hands. "You don't gotta tell me twice, I got akumatized for him, remember?"

"Yeah, honestly, we have some pretty messed up group dynamics," Alya sighs. "At least you can be proud of your motivations. And, you know, Adrien needed to know someone cared that much.."

"I think he still needs to know," Nino says, thinking about their recent fights. Carapace may be the one with an actual shield, but while it's cut down on Adrien's habit of flinging himself into danger, it definitely hasn't stopped him. "Also? I think we all need some serious therapy."

"Well," Alya says, leaning her head back as red and black zips past overhead. "Next best thing's here. Checkers alert, babe."

"I think the next best thing would be some other form of therapy, but sure, let's go," Nino sighs, starting up the fire escape. 

"This _is_ a form of therapy," Alya says. "I'm bringing contraband."

"Alya, Monopoly is banned in this city for a reason."

"It isn't the Forbidden Game, Nino, calm down." After the fifth or sixth board game themed akuma, more than one of which had been overly invested in literally flipping tables,  Monopoly had indeed been banned in Paris. "You know, we really have to get them to start having civilian game nights with us."

"We've tried," Nino sighs. "They keep saying they're too busy." They're too busy already being here. Secret identities are ridiculous.

"It' s not like we keep this a secret from them," Alya reminds him.  "We've even invited them along."

"Alya, you invited them to come join Ladybug and Chat Noir. Do you see the problem here?" Nino's careful not to say anything too incriminating, fully aware of how sharp Chat Noir's hearing is.

"Yeah, as the Ladyblogger, I don't accept starstruck as an excuse," Alya returns, waving to Chat Noir and Ladybug as they reach the top of their fire escape. "Hey, you two. We've got tuna, salad, and tuna salad."

"You two are wonderful," Chat Noir says fervently. "It's a little difficult to get food as ourselves."

That's doubly true for Chat Noir, they know. Marinette's hardly going to draw a crowd or concern buying or baking food but Adrien's diet is still being strictly monitored. They honestly aren't sure how he's getting away with feeding his kwami, but handing Chat Noir cheese as civilians is still unfortunately a little too suspicious to get away with.

"Alya brought a new game, too," Nino offers, finding his usual corner of the blanket that Chat Noir's already spread out. Nino's found he really wants blankets themed after the rest of the heroes too but he hasn't found a good, non suspicious time to ask Marinette yet. He's infinitely grateful that they've never kept these rooftop meetings a secret from Adrien or Marinette because if they had things would easily get ridiculously overcomplicated. Their friends certainly don't need help in that department.

"Food first," Ladybug says firmly. "Chat's losing weight again."

"Again?" Nino frowns at the other hero. "Dude, you gotta stop that."

"Wasn't my decision," Chat Noir says, rolling his shoulders and snatching the tuna sandwich from Alya as soon as she holds it out. Chat maneuvers it delicately between his claws, tugging out the lettuce and handing it to Ladybug.

Initially, Nino had every intention of teasing them about that, but he's definitely developed some weird cravings since he started bonding with Wayzz and if her refusal to talk about it is any indication Alya's have been even weirder. Besides, absolutely no one on this roof wants to do anything that would discourage Chat Noir from eating whatever he wants.

They play a lot of card games, but this time Nino introduces them to an extremely involved board game called Dead of Winter (because Alya's contraband _is_ Monopoly and _no)_ , and he doesn't miss how enthralled Chat Noir in particular is with the game. Nino thinks that's probably the mechanics that require teamwork more than anything.

They end up having to find a hiding place on the roof to stash their in-progress game since it's very quickly clear that they aren't going to be able to finish in one evening. Nino would be lying if he said that wasn't at least a little bit on purpose- the more good things his friends have to look forward to, the better.

It's not too long after they start playing more long-winded board games that Adrien asks them all to come with him to the park for lunch. They ditch his bodyguard easily (Nino can't tell how much of that is practice and how much of it is the man slowly becoming resigned to his charge vanishing on a regular basis) and regroup at a picnic table.

"So," Alya says, fishing out their shared lunch, including their Chat Noir and Ladybug sandwiches. By now, she and Nino have a rule- they never say anything revealing around their friends, but actions are free game.

Useless, useless free game, because their friends are oblivious.

"So I have something kind of weird and important to tell you guys, and I need you to not tell anyone else," Adrien starts, and Nino freezes. He meets Alya's gaze to see she's also frozen, staring back at him.

"Are you sure you want us to know?" Marinette says worriedly and the fact that she's managed a complete sentence alone without a shared goal makes Nino wonder for a second if the two of them know each other's identities at last.

"You d-don't have tell, anything, us," Marinette adds a moment later, turning red and dashing Nino's all too brief hopes.

"Well, I need someone to know, and I trust you three,"  Adrien says simply. "I bought an apartment."

That's not the reveal Nino expected.

"Okay," Alya says slowly. "How? And why?"

"W-well, you two meet up with Chat Noir and Ladybug on that rooftop all the time, right?" Adrien rubs the back of his neck and doesn't meet anyone's eyes. "And I mean, how isn't important, but... I remember you both mentioning that the apartment under it is empty..."

"Oh my god, you bought us an apartment," Alya says, stunned. "Oh my god, you bought us an apartment to share with Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"Not... all the time?" Adrien says weakly. "But I know how important those rooftop hangouts are to you two, and the weather's about to turn, and I know you've been busy Marinette but I didn't want to leave you out and," He finally stops to breathe.

"Wait," Alya says. "You bought an apartment _for us_ that _you_ don't intend to use?"

"Well," Adrien says sheepishly. "Yes?"

"No." Alya reaches out and puts her hand over one of his. "Sunshine, no. It's your apartment, you have to use it too."

"But it's for you guys," Adrien protests weakly. Marinette, who's landed on an interesting shade of red, says nothing at all.

"It's yours, dude," Nino points out. "You bought it, and I have no idea how you managed that at all, much less without being caught, but you need it more than we do.  I mean, you could get away from your dad, you have to take that chance."

"He's going to notice if I move out, Nino," Adrien says, exasperated.

"Okay, actually, I'm not sure he will," Nino says, equally exasperated with his friend. "He doesn't pay enough attention to you to notice. Which is terrible, by the way, have I mentioned your dad's a dick?"

"Yeah," Adrien says. "You have. Like twice a day."

"Well," Nino says. "Your dad's a dick.  Anyway, he totally won't notice if you don't sleep at home. Use the apartment."

"I..." Adrien falters. "I'll think about it.  But yeah, that's all I wanted to tell you three. Don't worry about getting caught up on the roof, because you can always just duck down into the apartment now."

Nino's going to buy every cat toy he can find and fill every room in that apartment with them. He's going to find out if catnip works on Chat Noir, and he's going to buy a fridge just to stock it with Camembert and tuna.

Lunch is over way too soon, not giving them near enough time to convince Adrien that he should move out for real, and Nino and Alya don't need to talk about it before making a direct line for their roof as soon as school lets out. (Marinette and Adrien both left early, because _of course they did_ ).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no, there's no realistic way adrien can get that apartment, but it's a magical superhero cartoon so we're gonna let that go and let them have their apartment


	4. Chapter 4

 

"Alya," Nino pants as they draw closer. "He bought the apartment."

"He sure did, babe." Alya doesn't look at him, intent on drawing closer to their destination. "And you know what the best part is?"

"What?"

"Adrien and Chat Noir both have completely valid reasons to be there," Alya points out. "He's got somewhere safe, if we can just convince him to use it."

"Marinette and Ladybug both have reasons to be there too," Nino says. "Oh man, this is perfect. Alya, he got us all a secret hideout!"

"Yeah but he still doesn't know that," Alya points out, before grinning deviously enough to make Nino hyperaware that his girlfriend had earned the _fox_ Miraculous. "But we can convince him."

"How, exactly?" Nino says skeptically. 

"We're gonna ask Ladybug and Chat Noir to help us convince Adrien to move in."

Nino chokes. "Okay, that's both brilliant and evil."

"I could give Hawkmoth a run for his money, I know." Alya flips her hair and jumps up the first couple steps of the fire escape as they come up on it. "Come on babe, checkers alert, I can see them already."

"Checkers alert?" Chat Noir says, popping his head over the edge of the building. "M'lady, your friends have a code phrase for us."

Ladybug's head appears next to his, gently shoving him aside. "They're your friends too, kitten.  Come on up Alya, Nino."

"Really?" Chat Noir says happily. "That practically doubles my number of friends."

He misses the worried looks that earns him. Also, Nino's suddenly very concerned about whether or not Adrien actually _realises_ they're all his friends, which he hadn't realised was anything he needed to worry about.

"Yes, we're your friends, you super dumbass," Alya tells him, climbing onto the roof. "How did you miss that? We share food with you. Do you know how hard it is to get us to share food?"

They actually know for a fact he doesn't, because they've all been trying to give Adrien more food for months, but Nino definitely catches an amused look flashing across Ladybug's face.  Marinette is more than familiar with Alya's food-guarding habits; they were developed by having two younger sisters but Marinette frequently takes the brunt of them. Nino's pretty sure he's seen Alya hunch over her food and growl before.

Chat Noir looks pleased, sitting back on his heels and leaning against Ladybug's legs as she reaches over to help Nino up. "I think you two feed me more than anyone but my Lady."

He misses another worried look from said Lady.

"Yeah, that's not normal, dude," Nino tells him, pulling out their last game but not setting it up. "Eat more. Please eat more."

"Do you tell everyone that?" Chat Noir wonders, and Nino manfully suppresses a pained whine, because no, he doesn't.  He doesn't say that to anyone else but Adrien, to whom he says it _a_ _lot_.

"No," Alya says simply, before grinning. "We have the best news, you guys! You know the apartment under us?"

Chat Noir tilts his head, green eyes innocently wide. Too innocently. "What about it?"

Alya loops an arm around Nino's shoulder and grins. "Nino's best friend bought it."

Chat Noir blinks and looks at Nino. "Your best friend?"

"Yeah," Nino affirms, slightly startled despite himself. He knows Adrien's self-esteem isn't the best, but this is something he thought he'd been pretty clear about. "The one I keep bugging to join us.  He could really use something like we have here."

"He's always welcome," Ladybug says softly, before clearing her throat and adding hastily, "Any friend of yours is a friend of ours."

"Anyway," Alya says, practically vibrating with excitement. "He bought the apartment so we can use it and we aren't restricted to the roof. Do you guys wanna go check it out?"

He can see the warring impulses in Ladybug's eyes as she says, reluctantly, "Are you sure we can trust your friend?"

"Positive," Nino assures her. "Adrien's a good guy. If he says it's safe, it's safe."

"We've trusted Alya and Nino this long," Chat Noir reminds his partner. "And if anything does happen, doesn't this place have a balcony? We shouldn't have any trouble getting out."

"We won't," Ladybug says, eyes darting between her friends. "These two might."

"We'll be fine," Alya says firmly. "Also? Sunshine bought us an actual apartment! Let's go, let's go, I need to see my son's new home!"

"Your son?" Chat Noir says, confused.

"It's a long story," Nino sighs. "Also, do you two want to help us convince our friend to move in to his own apartment? He's being stupid about this."

He can feel Alya's pride in him for that one.

"Uh, maybe?" Chat Noir says awkwardly. "After all, maybe your friend has a good reason not to."

"He doesn't," Nino says flatly.  "He thinks he does."

"It's possible you're doing your friend a disservice by not listening to him," Ladybug suggests gently.

"It's possible his dad's a dick and he needs to leave," Nino says, watching Chat Noir flinch. "Anyway, we still don't know what this place is like. Let's go check it out."

Nino has actual keys, because Adrien had insisted, but the two superheroes drop down to the balcony to wait to be let in instead. It's a lot more inconspicuous than coming to the door with them, and meeting Chat Noir and Ladybug at an apartment is a little harder to explain than meeting Chat Noir and Ladybug on a roof.

"Nino," Alya says quietly as they head for the balcony door. "Nino, this place is huge."

"It really is," Nino agrees, awestruck. "I've been in smaller houses." He turns in a circle. "You could almost fit Adrien's room in here."

"He bought it for the rest of us.  Nino, he did this for us." Alya looks around the empty apartment.  The living room alone is huge and they haven't even been in any of the three bedrooms. Alya lowers her voice to the barest whisper and says, "We're getting him all the cat toys."

"Way ahead of you," Nino says faintly, unlatching the balcony door.

Chat Noir bounds gleefully inside, skidding into a crouch in the middle of the floor and tilting his head. "My lady, come and see!"

"Oh wow," Ladybug breathes, stepping inside with their rooftop supplies slung over one shoulder. "This is a lot nicer than I was expecting."

"It's too bad Lucky Charm can't give us furniture," Alya says wistfully. "I'm not sure how to get anything in here discreetly."

"You can leave that to me-ow," Chat Noir suggests. At Ladybug's disbelieving look, he smiles slyly. "I have connections."

"Or," Nino suggests, "You could help us convince our friend to move in himself. Furniture's not suspicious then."

Very discreetly, even though the two superheroes aren't paying attention, Alya fistbumps him.

"That's for later, though," Alya says. "We may not have much, but why don't we throw down our blanket and finish up our game?" She grins. "We're gonna get more blankets, too. We wanna ask my best friend for the other superheroes too."

"Really?" Ladybug squeaks.

Chat Noir tilts his head and bounces back to his feet to lean against Ladybug. "Can I have one themed for my Lady?" he asks, grinning.

Alya shrugs. "Sure. Why don't you keep each other's, and I'll get a Carapace one to go with the Rena Rouge one?" She struggles not to sound sarcastic. They still don't know Nino is Carapace; Master Fu and Wayzz are both still advising Nino against telling them just yet.

Adrien also doesn't know that Alya is Rena Rouge, and as the historically more oblivious one, he's at a disadvantage on any guessing games about it. It's still maybe a little mean to do something this obvious- but if they haven't caught on yet they aren't going to.

"Clawsome." Chat Noir grins and sinks down to his haunches at the edge of the blanket, kneading it with his claws; Ladybug drops down beside him without appearing to think about it. "Hey, can we play Pictionary?"

"Not if you two are planning to play on the same team we can't," Nino says, recoiling. "There's handicaps and then there's whatever letting you two _do_ that to us is."

"Nino," Alya stage whispers. "Nino, I really want to see that, though."

"We're going to get our asses kicked, babe," Nino says, already resigning himself.

Alya shrugs and pats the blanket next to herself. "I'm okay with that."

They do get their asses kicked, but Alya's right- it's worth it. To Nino's frustration, Ladybug and Chat Noir are more than capable of guessing each other's goal with a single line drawn and, a couple times, with a long look exchanged and _no_ lines drawn.

"Is there a way to ban eye contact?" Alya wonders. "Can you play Pictionary blindfolded?"

"Pretty sure you can't," Nino says glumly, staring at the discarded pile of paper in front of his friends. "We're never letting them do this again, right?"

Ladybug's been giggling half the night and Chat Noir's expression is as bright as they've ever seen it. It's well past dark, but all of them have managed to provide excuses for where they'll be until the next day, so the night is nowhere near winding down. "I dunno, Nino, this is kind of fantastic.  I didn't know they could do this outside of battle."

"Neither did we," Chat Noir points out. "I mean, I guess we would have if we'd thought about it? We didn't really plan on game night becoming a regular thing."

Nino thinks about the way they play dodgeball and holds back a sigh.

"I'm really glad it did," Alya says firmly. "You've been noticeably calmer during akuma attacks. People on the Ladyblog have even commented on it." It's been terribly convenient for Alya to be able to claim the Ladyblog as a source of information; Nino usually has to resort to feigning ignorance.

"They have?" Chat Noir says, startled.

"Oh, yeah," Alya confirms, sitting up and digging through her pack for treats. "They're happy for you. They worry."

"They do?" Ladybug says.

"Why are you both like this," Nino says, accepting a croissant from Alya and throwing a cheese danish to Chat Noir, who catches it easily (and devours it in less than a minute). "You're heroes, people like you.  If you're like this all the time when you're not out being heroes then people like you for you, too."

"I don't know about that," Ladybug says softly, looking down at the blanket and smoothing one gloved hand over a pawprint.

Chat Noir shrugs. "Me either, but only me. My lady, you're wonderful, I'm sure Nino's right."

"Oh, don't do that, kitten," Ladybug says softly, leaning into him to scratch behind his ear. "You're wonderful, too. If you don't have people who tell you that, you should."

" _Alya_ ," Nino says, strangled, for more reasons than he can possibly count.

"I know," she mutters back, before raising her voice. "We like you for you, Chat Noir, and I'm sure we'd like you whether you're in costume or not."

He shrugs and leans back into Ladybug in turn, butting his head against her hand absently. Nino has had to very, very quickly get very, very used to how tactile Ladybug and Chat Noir are with each other in costume and then he has had to go to school and be uncomfortably aware that there is no way Adrien at least isn't touch-starved as hell. If Nino's started hugging his best friend _maybe_ a little more often and a little longer than is strictly considered normal, well, that's no one else's business. At least Alya has assured him that Marinette's only reacting to a need; he's met her parents, anyway, and he doesn't think you can _get_ farther on the spectrum from Gabriel Agreste than that.

Now if they could only somehow get Adrien into Marinette's household instead.

"Well," Ladybug says with a sigh. "We probably should get to patrol."

"Go on." Alya waves. "If you need to crash back here later, we're staying the night, we've made our excuses."

Ladybug eyes them both. Chat Noir has shut his eyes and is still leaning into Ladybug as hard as he can and doesn't seem the least bit concerned about his friends sneaking out for the night, but then, he probably doesn't think it's strange.  Marinette would know that it's unusual for at least Alya. "Are you sure?"

"We're sure," Alya says. "We both could use the break, really."

"If you're sure," Ladybug says, before nudging Chat Noir onto his feet. "Come on, Chat Noir, let's go see if Paris needs us."

Once they're gone, Nino says, "So where did you tell your folks you are?"

"Oh, I'm at Marinette's," Alya says calmly.

Nino stares at her.

"What?" Alya says. "What's she going to do, ask me where I was? I assumed you said you were with Adrien."

"No, I said I was at Kim's," Nino says. "Kim doesn't remember who he invited over when, he's bulletproof. He always says you were there when anyone asks and no one's ever sure if it's true or not."

"So that's how Alix always gets away with it," Alya mutters. "Anyway. Wanna go get some furniture before they get back? I have babysitting money and a working knowledge of nearby thrift stores."

"I'm in," Nino says.

They don't get very much, because they can't, but they manage a halfway decent futon for one of the bedrooms before anything else, they find a great deal on an only slightly ratty couch, and they raid someone's trash for a kitchen table and chairs. Since they have to be creative to get it all upstairs without help they don't have time for much more than that. Really, they can only manage as much as they do because they have both babysitting money and the money from Nino's DJ gigs saved up.

"Well," Alya says, surveying the place. "I'm not sure how Sunshine is going to feel about this. Not quite the kind of digs he's used to."

"Alya," Nino says, trying to get one of the kitchen chairs to stop wobbling. "He was plenty happy when the only thing in here was a blanket. Actually, so long as Ladybug's in here, we probably don't need the blanket."

Alya bounces on the couch a couple of times. "Yeah, but we kinda can't move them both in permanently yet, babe. Someone'll notice that. But maybe having a futon in one of the bedrooms will be enough to get our kid to crash here instead of home sometimes." 

Nino drops onto the still-wobbly chair with a sigh. He drops his head into his hands. "Alya, I'm too young to be a father."

"I am both too young and too female to be a father, so step it up Nino," Alya tells him.  "It's that or convince Marinette's parents to adopt all of us, which, let me just say, I am not opposed."

"You wanna bet he's surprised we didn't ask our rich friend to get this stuff?" Nino asks.

"Adrien?" She thinks about it. "Yeah, probably. Hey, you think we can figure out how to mooch cable off of Chloe?"

"I think that's really unrealistic, let's try it." He gets up again.

They can't do it, but they do have a television now; since they don't have anything else to use it for Nino sneaks into his own room to grab old video game systems and comes back to hook them up.

When Chat Noir comes in through the window at two in the morning, he stops and stares. "Are you- are you playing Mario Kart?"

"Yep," Alya says without looking away from the screen. "Grab a controller, would you? I need help beating Nino."

"It's not that kind of game," Chat Noir points out.

"Okay, fine, I just want him not to win every round," Alya grumbles as she goes off the track.

"Chat, why did you stop?" Ladybug's voice says from just outside the window. A moment later she says, "Oh."

"They've been busy, LB," Chat Noir tells her. His voice shakes, just slightly.

Alya sets down her controller and stretches, twisting to look at them both. "Yeah, we wanted to surprise you. And our friend Adrien. We got him a futon so he can't say there's nowhere in here to sleep."

"Oh," Chat Noir says faintly. His eyes are very bright.

"You're good friends," Ladybug says, looking around the apartment. "We, um, we weren't really planning on staying, we just wanted to check on you, but this is- you didn't have to do this."

Alya shrugs, unbothered. "We wanted to, though."

"Wouldn't your friend, the one who bought the place- wouldn't he have bought furniture, too?" Chat Noir asks, sinking to a crouch, his tail wrapping around his feet. Ladybug steps up behind him and rests a hand on his shoulder.

He looks kind of overwhelmed.

"He shouldn't have to," Nino says, trying not to sigh. "I mean, it sucks that he felt like he needed to buy the apartment in the first place. It's awesome, don't get me wrong, but I want him around more than I want a fancy place." He scowls. "I think since his dad thinks expensive stuff is how you show affection, Sunshine's not sure how to do it normally."

"Oh," Chat Noir says again.

"I'm sure he knows how," Ladybug says, then backpedals frantically. "I mean! Well, Chat's a rich kid, too, and he has no problem showing affection! Right, kitty?"

He turns a face full of gratitude towards her. "Of course, my Lady."

Behind their backs, Alya makes exasperated faces at Nino.

Nino's honestly surprised the two have shared that much personal information with each other, but he has bigger concerns to address.

"I didn't mean it like that," Nino says. "He's plenty affectionate. Hell, I think he's kinda starved for affection, that's kinda my point. I don't want him to think we're only his friends 'cause he's the rich kid, or the famous one, or any of that." He stares at the table. It's a pretty ugly table, wooden and knotted and scratched, scarred with flecks of paint. It's not hard to figure out why it was in the trash. "Kinda like we were tellin' you guys earlier, right? I like him for just being him. I just want him to know he's my best friend, 'cause he's the best dude I know."

He can't look up at Chat Noir, but that's all right. Alya has him covered, jumping in after him. "He really is. And my girl's the best girl I know, we're gonna ask her for help with, like, blankets and curtains and stuff.  If anyone can make this place feel like a home, it's Marinette."

This time, Ladybug says, "Oh."  She sounds almost as strangled as Chat Noir had.

"Anyway!" Alya waves her hand. "Not the point. You two gonna chill, or should we pack it in for the night?"

Chat Noir and Ladybug look at each other for a long moment.

Sometimes, when they do things like this, it really strikes Nino that their Miraculous are a pair. He loves being Carapace, even with all the responsibility it entails; he looks forward to the day that Wayzz stays with him, even if it's a bittersweet sort of longing because he knows how loyal Wayzz is to Master Fu and he gets it. Nino likes working with the other heroes, loves the rush of an effective battle strategy; but Carapace and Rena Rouge aren't partners. They're teammates, and it's wonderful, but it's not the same. Ladybug and Chat Noir- they're two halves of a whole.

(At some point Nino became one of the students the others fear at dodgeball, but it's still nothing on Marinette and Adrien together. Alya and Nino together can beat the rest of their classmates, but Adrien and Marinette together can _decimate_ them).

"We'll go for tonight," Ladybug says, not looking away from Chat Noir. "But we'll come back when we can."

Chat Noir exhales heavily. "Right. We'll cat-ch you later."

Once they're gone again, Alya says, "So we both know there's, like, no way they both went home, right?"

Nino sighs. "How much coffee do you think we should bring to class tomorrow?"

They bring enough, but barely. Nino gets deputized to fetch them more at lunch and comes back to their picnic table to find Alya trying again to wheedle their friends over to the apartment.

"Maybe later," Marinette says. "I have a design to work on."

"I have Chinese," Adrien says. "I'm just glad you guys are happy with it."

"Adrien, Sunshine, it's yours," Alya pleads. "At least come see the place with us."

"Maybe later," he says.

Marinette and Adrien always say they're busy. Chat Noir and Ladybug meet them nearly every night.

Nino thinks they're single-handedly keeping the nearby coffee shop in business.

"Seriously, where do your parents think you are?" Nino asks Alya one night before the others arrive.

Alya shrugs. "I'm with Marinette, Marinette's with me, you're at Kim's place with half our class at any given time as far as anyone can figure out, and no one actually knows if Adrien's in his room at night or not."

"You know," Nino says. "That ended up with far fewer lies than I expected."

"Yeah, our lives are weird that way." Alya drops down onto one of the new blankets- the Carapace one, and they're honestly not sure when Marinette ever had time to make these. They see her almost every night that Alya doesn't have to babysit and some that she does. (Having now spent time with just Chat Noir and Ladybug, Nino is a lot more sympathetic to the time Alya spent as Rena Rouge before Carapace joined the team).

Nino and Alya doggedly reserve the Ladybug and Chat Noir blankets for their friends, who always use each other's theme given the choice, possibly not consciously. Nino got mugs to test it; Ladybug only uses the Chat Noir mug, and Chat Noir will only use the Ladybug one. It's very entertaining, all things considered.

"Alya," Nino says. "It's killing me that they still don't know."

"We can't tell them," Alya groans. "I mean, our original reason is still true, they really need to work it out themselves. But also? I promised Ladybug not to tell anyone, and I can't explain you knowing."

"I know," Nino says glumly. "And Wayzz and Master Fu don't want me telling. And neither of them knows it's me. At least one of them knows it's you!"

"She doesn't know that I know it's her," Alya reminds him. "Believe me, you don't want _this_ tangled mess either.  Besides, Ladybug and Chat Noir are best friends. I will do nothing to risk that."

"Best friends is an understatement,"  Nino mutters. "Seriously, I don't understand how they don't know it's their partner even out of the suits. They're so in tune it scares me." He thinks about the latest dodgeball game.  The four of them are no longer allowed on a team all together, which Nino begrudgingly approves of in theory, but in practice it means he and Alya always take the brunt of the unholy terror that is Marinette and Adrien laser focused on the same goal. Nino's bruises have bruises. 


	5. Chapter 5

Finally, finally, they get Adrien and Marinette to come to the apartment as themselves. It takes three consecutive akuma in two days and a photoshoot that Adrien's asshole dad refuses to cancel to do it, but Adrien is desperate to hide somewhere his dad's staff can't find him and Marinette is desperate to spend time with Adrien (and, they're a little surprised to realise, with Nino and Alya, too).

"Finally," Alya says, twisting the key in the lock. "Finally, Nino, we get to bring our children home." 

"I'm sorry, your what?" Marinette says at the same as Adrien says, "Huh?" 

"It's about to be a broken home," Nino starts to threaten, then stops when he catches sight of Adrien's expression. "It's nothing, don't worry about it.  Anyway, it's your place.  We're just squatters." 

"I don't think you qualify as squatters when you have a key," Adrien says. 

Alya shrugs, shooing everyone through the door. "Okay, so Ladybug and Chat Noir are squatters, I'm cool with that. They've earned it." 

"Wow," Adrien says, wandering into the apartment and doing an admirable job of pretending he hasn't been here every night of the past week. "I had no idea you were such huge superhero fans." 

"I run the Ladyblog," Alya reminds him.

"You have, uh," Marinette looks around. "You have a lot more than the stuff you commissioned from me, Alya."

This is true. Nino and Alya have developed kind of a thrift store problem between them and a willingness to repaint just about anything. They only haven't started painting the walls because they want Adrien's permission (Chat Noir has started making enthusiastic suggestions, which makes it painful to hold off on asking Adrien). 

Of course, Marinette and Adrien both have seen most of this already, but not all of it- and they've never been interested in so much as glancing into the bedrooms before; Ladybug and Chat Noir have always stayed around the living room and kitchen instead.

"You take commissions?" Adrien asks, interested. 

"Well." Marinette shrugs self-consciously. "There isn't really any Carapace or Rena Rouge merchandise out there yet, so I made them some." 

"That's really awesome of you, Marinette," Adrien says earnestly.

Marinette, who's been doing better at interacting with him with every game of dodgeball, beams at him. "You really think so? Thanks!"

"So, do we get the grand tour?" Adrien wonders out loud, glancing at the couch, which has the Chat Noir blanket draped over it. The last time he was here, Nino knows, the Ladybug blanket had been there too. 

The last time he was here, Alya and Nino had very much intentionally kept the other two from going anywhere near the bedrooms. 

"Sure," Alya says, and throws open a door. "Your room's over here, Sunshine." 

After Ladybug and Chat Noir had left for patrol, Alya had moved the Ladybug blanket in here while Nino fetched the dresser they'd gotten Alix to graffiti for them. On top of Alix's usual style it's dotted with ladybugs. 

"We know you're a fan," Nino says, grinning. 

"Guys," Adrien says, eyes Chat Noir wide as he steps into the room. "You didn't have to do this." 

"We did," Alya assures him. "Wanna see Marinette's room?" 

" _My_ room?" Marinette squeaks. 

"Well, yeah, you were included when he told us, right?" Alya says. She throws open the door to the room they've decorated mostly in pink, but added a heavy Chat Noir theme to as well. 

_Both_ of their friends blush. This is great. 

"Marinette, you're a Chat Noir fan?" Adrien asks happily. 

"Um," she stutters. 

"Oh yeah, you should hear her defend him when anyone says anything even mildly critical," Alya says smugly, throwing an arm around Marinette and batting at her pigtail. "Right, girl?"

"Well," Marinette says, recovering at the reminder that anyone dares to criticize her partner, looking down at the Chat Noir bedspread and shrugging. "I just don't think it's fair that people don't give him enough credit. He and Ladybug are a team- she couldn't do it without him."

"She could," Adrien disagrees. 

Marinette, uncharacteristically, scowls. "No, she can't. And she wouldn't want to." 

"Maybe she would," Adrien says. "I hear he can be pretty annoying." 

"He's fantastic," Marinette says heatedly. 

"She doesn't really need him, though," Adrien argues. "Cataclysm isn't crucial the way Lucky Charm is." 

"Of course she needs him!" Marinette isn't quite glaring but it's a near thing. "They're partners!" 

Adrien shrugs and doesn't look at her. "It's not really an equal partnership, though, is it? Chat Noir isn't necessary to win battles the way Ladybug is.  That's part of why he gets in the way of attacks for her." 

"He needs to stop that," Marinette mutters under her breath, before shaking her head and looking back at Adrien. "He protects her because they're partners. She protects him, too." 

"It's not-" Adrien falters, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's not the same." 

"Chat Noir is just as important as Ladybug," Marinette says stubbornly. 

"Is he?" Adrien says quietly. 

Marinette graduates to full-on glaring, snapping, "Of course he is!" 

Under the guise of updating the Ladyblog, Alya texts Nino. 

_**alyaalyaoxenfree:** This is the best idea we've ever had. _

"All right, it looks like we definitely got your favorites right, then," Alya finally breaks in, not bothering to hide her amusement. "Wanna see the rest of the place?" 

"Wait, isn't there only one more bedroom?" Marinette asks, trailing after them. She still looks annoyed, but with a last glance at Adrien she lets it go. To Alya's amazement, though, Marinette actually stays slightly colder to Adrien than usual as they go through the apartment- Marinette _really_ doesn't want to hear anyone say anything bad about her partner. 

Alya doesn't know if the fact it's her partner saying it would make it better or worse, really.

"Yeah, but the last bedroom's for Ladybug and Chat Noir," Alya tosses back over her shoulder. 

Adrien trips. 

"I thought that was yours!" Marinette stammers. 

"We're good with our living room," Alya assures her. "We like it out here. Anyway, we've slept out here a lot, we're kind of attached to the place now." She kicks open the last door. "Behold!" 

"Is that a bunk bed?" Adrien asks in disbelief. 

"Is that a cat tree?" Marinette says. 

"Yes and yes," Alya says smugly. "And that's a minifridge in the corner, because you're not the only one who doesn't eat enough, Sunshine." 

"Really," Adrien stammers. 

"Really," Alya says firmly, putting a hand on each of her friend's shoulders and pushing them gently into the room. "Anyway, they don't know what we've been up to in here- they never really leave the living room or kitchen- so you guys get to see it first!" It's this kind of thing, more than anything, that makes her wish Trixx could be her constant companion. She's sure her kwami would love this. 

Maybe someday all their kwami can join them here. That would be nice.

"This is- really cool," Adrien says, turning in a circle in the center of the room. Alya and Nino had balanced it as carefully as they could between Ladybug and Chat Noir; the blackout curtains are Chat Noir curtains, there's a Ladybug rug. There are framed posters of both superheroes. The bedding is a mix of merchandise on each bed, including the pillowcases Alya asked Marinette for. 

"This is _amazing,_ " Marinette says, trailing one hand over the split desk. 

"I kind of asked my sisters for input," Alya admits. "You know what they're like- they always want the same thing, but different? They were really helpful for this." 

Adrien blinks at her. "Why would they want the same thing but different?" 

"They're twins," Alya says dryly. "They're very young twins. They're very young twins who've recently developed a bit of a superhero obsession." She shrugs. "And, well, Chat Noir kinda acts like he never got enough chances to be a kid, and I think Ladybug'd do just about anything to keep him happy." 

Both their friends are blushing again and Nino thinks he hears the faintest snickering from inside Adrien's shirt. This day alone is worth every awkward moment he and Alya have suffered through. 

"I really think she would," Marinette says, mostly to herself, and Adrien's breath catches. 

They still can't get Adrien to stay there except on rare occasions, but when they come back the next night Chat Noir is delighted by the bunk beds. He jumps onto the bottom bunk and rolls around happily, wrapping the blanket around himself and purring with delight. Ladybug leans against the doorframe and laughs until she has tears in her eyes.   
  
"Hey Ladybug," Alya says quietly. "There are cat toys in the cat tree." 

Ladybug fishes for a toy without taking her eyes off her partner and comes up with a laser pointer. With a sly smile, she points it just above Chat Noir's face. 

He freezes. He turns a glare on his partner, but it's not very effective when he keeps darting distracted glances back at the red light. 

"Here, kitty kitty," Ladybug says slyly. 

"That's not-" Chat Noir breaks off, still tracking the light. He rolls slowly to his hands and knees and starts to stalk it.

"Not what, exactly, kitten?" Ladybug asks happily. 

"Not-" He reaches out with one hand, balancing his other three limbs on the bed, and bats at the light. "Ah, fair. You know this isn't- shit!" He overreaches and tumbles off the bed, springing up on his haunches immediately and giving Ladybug the kind of puppy eyes that shouldn't be allowed on a feline hero at all. "My lady." 

Grinning now, Ladybug clicks the laser pointer on again and waves it in front of him. Chat Noir pounces on it, tail waving, and then tilts his head back to glare at Ladybug again. 

His eyes still slide back to the red dot playing on his gloves. 

"So this is possibly the best thing I've ever seen," Alya says conversationally as Chat Noir gives in and leaps after the dot when Ladybug moves it again. 

Nino nods slowly, then says, "I'm going to get rid of all the catnip. Just in case." 

"Why," Alya pleads. 

"Because I don't want to see Chat Noir try to fight an akuma while he's high?" Nino suggests. "Because right now I'm honestly kind of concerned that we'll- that they'll have to face an akuma with, like, a flashlight or something and this will be a problem?"

"Must you ruin my fun by being realistic?" Alya watches as Chat Noir scrambles for the top bunk where Ladybug is hovering the light. Ladybug honestly seems like she's having just as much fun as her other half, if only because her other half _is_ having fun. 

"See, someone has to be, so yes," Nino says. 

Ladybug moves the light again and Chat Noir goes crashing to the floor. 

"You know, I'm pretty sure he's only chasing it because he wants to," Alya says. 

"Yeah," Chat Noir groans from a heap on the rug, "But I really, really want to. It's... frustrating me." 

"I want to buy you all the cat toys now," Alya tells him. "This is great." 

"Not objecting," Chat Noir replies, before tearing after the light again. 

They still haven't technically convinced Adrien to stay overnight- but Chat Noir starts to. Even Ladybug begins to, after rough fights, and since she won't do anything to compromise her identity she, too, stays in their shared room. 

Later, Marinette finally tracks Alya down alone, and Alya's abruptly struck by how rare that's become. She didn't mean to neglect her friendship with Marinette in favor of her friendship with- well, with Ladybug and Chat Noir. This is getting kind of insane. Trixx is right, secret identities are nonsense. 

"Alya," Marinette hisses. "I can't believe you decorated a room for me in Adrien's apartment." 

"Girl, he included you when he bought it," Alya points out. "You're friends. How do you not know this yet?" Honestly, she still doesn't understand how they don't know they're _partners_. The level of devotion Chat Noir and Ladybug have to each other honestly seems like it should supersede the demands of magic.

Marinette whimpers. "There's a difference between friends and strongly suggesting we move in together, Alya!"

"Is there?" Alya asks, amused. "I dunno, Nino and I are there a lot." She tilts her head. "Kinda like Ladybug and Chat Noir." 

"You're dating," Marinette mutters, before her eyes go wide. "You and Nino, I mean! Not- not Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"I dunno, they do kinda act like they're together," Alya says, enjoying herself. Trixx would love this. 

Marinette stares at her. "You got them a bunk bed, Alya. You based their room on your sisters." 

"You've met Chat Noir," Alya says. "Tell me that cat won't love a bunk bed. Tell me my little sisters aren't the best possible reference for what he'd love."

"Alya," Marinette says. "They're partners." 

"They sure are," Alya agrees easily. "And I'm sure they love their room." They're still acting pretty stunned, after all, even if they do stay sometimes now. Alya wonders who prefers which bunk- she can see Chat Noir loving the top bunk, but then Marinette's actual bed is a top bunk, so she's not sure. 

It hasn't escaped Alya that Marinette is protesting sharing an apartment with Adrien and here Alya is teasing her about Chat Noir and Ladybug sharing a room. Gaining magical resistance is the best thing that's ever happened to Alya. 

"Alya," Marinette says, despairing. "I can't believe you're trying to rope me into sharing an apartment with Adrien _and_ Chat Noir." 

"And Ladybug," Alya reminds her happily.

Marinette flushes. "Of course. And Ladybug, how could I forget." 

Alya grins. "I knew you liked Chat Noir better." 

"I'm going to die," Marinette mumbles very quietly, before looking back at Alya. "Wait, what about Rena Rouge and Carapace?" 

"What about them?" Alya asks, startled despite herself. 

"W-well." Marinette squares her shoulders. "If you're already spending this much time with Chat Noir and Ladybug, shouldn't you get to know their teammates, too?" 

Recovering, Alya says, "They're just as welcome to join us as you and Adrien are." The real reasons they haven't, of course, is that Ladybug knows who she is and Wayzz may not entirely approve of their antics, but there's no reason for Alya to tell Marinette any of that. After all, Marinette knows exactly why Rena Rouge hasn't joined them. 

Alya just hadn't expected Marinette to turn the tide back on her like this. 

"Well," Marinette says firmly. "I don't need a room, really. Maybe you should rework mine for Rena Rouge." 

"Nah, I'm sure she'd be fine joining us in our living room," Alya says brightly. After all, Marinette can't actually _admit_ to knowing Alya _is_ Rena Rouge. 

Marinette's stare could burn holes in a wall.

Alya grins at her again.

When Ladybug catches up to her later that night to invite her to board game night, Alya turns her down. 

"I'm already at every game night," Alya reminds her. "I think Nino would be suspicious if I didn't show and Rena Rouge did."

"That's... true," Ladybug says, defeated. She sighs. "Well, I guess it isn't like we know who Carapace is, anyway."

"I'm sure he knows he's welcome," Alya points out. "He's heard you mention it at patrols, anyway." 

"Yeah." Ladybug brightens a little. "Yeah, that's true. Maybe he'll show, then." 

"How about this," Alya says. "If Carapace comes, then Rena Rouge will. Sound good?" 

"Sure," Ladybug concedes. 

Wayzz won't come out for something so frivolous, so Alya knows she's making a safe bet. 

She thinks. 

"Babe," she hisses as Carapace ducks into the apartment one night. "What the hell?" 

He shrugs, looking lost. "Wayzz's idea." 

"Right." Alya runs a hand through her hair. "Right, so the one person I counted on to be sensible, that's Wayzz by the way not you, has for some reason decided this is a good thing?" 

"Listen, I don't question the turtle demigod," Carapace tells her. "Now, shouldn't you get in touch with Ladybug?" 

"I don't contact Ladybug, she contacts me!" Alya hisses. "And she didn't think this through because we're both here, and Chat Noir is on his way, and we'd better make like we don't know each other's tells, _Nino!_ " 

"I didn't plan on this!" Nino hisses back. 

"I know you didn't, because it's a terrible- shit, checkers alert," she falls back against the couch, not needing to be caught face-to-face with Carapace and conversing in hissed whispers. 

They get lucky. Neither Chat Noir nor Ladybug pick up on Alya knowing Carapace a little too well, and, well, if Marinette notices anything she probably chalks it up to Alya being Rena Rouge anyway. 

They get bold. After that Alya accepts Ladybug's offer and shows up as Rena Rouge. 

Then they start showing up together in all kinds of combinations. 

(Alya's been right, Trixx thinks this is the best thing they've ever been a part of). 

It should be obvious within the week to Chat Noir and Ladybug that no one shows up alongside their civilian counterpart. It should be an easy puzzle to solve. Nino thinks they've had magical shielding confirmed beyond all doubts now, because apparently it's not. Their friends are as oblivious as ever. 

He kind of loves when it's Marinette and Chat Noir, because then they're both kind of- more themselves. It becomes clear to Nino and Alya both that if Ladybug is another facet of Marinette, Chat Noir is who Adrien _is_ without all the rules and restrictions, and the boy needs that. Adrien and Ladybug is entertaining in a whole different way- he didn't think there was a way to reverse Adrien and Marinette's dynamic but _there sure is_ and it's _amazing_. 

It's Ladybug, too, who convinces Adrien to stay at the apartment some nights- and some nights becomes most nights once Chat Noir starts to stay there too. 

The most common configuration is still Alya, Nino, Ladybug and Chat Noir, by a lot, but it's fun to switch around. More than once the four of them run a patrol and then meet back at the apartment- Chat Noir passes on Adrien's permission for Rena Rouge and Carapace to stay as well. 

They honestly get away with it for longer than they have any right to. It might be Ladybug's luck, or it might be Marinette and Adrien's magical shielding, or it might be Nino and Alya's lack thereof, or it might be a combination; but for a long time, there's no big identity reveal. 

Nino kind of wishes there would be sometimes, because it doesn't seem entirely fair that Adrien's the only one with no idea that all his friends are here, but Wayzz and Master Fu both assure him that it will happen as it's meant to happen. 

He should have been more suspicious than he was when they'd first told him that. 

But it's true that for a surprisingly long time, everything works out well. The night that Carapace and Chat Noir play Balderdash against Marinette and Alya is after Nino's honestly had a bad day; it had been Wayzz who insisted they come to the apartment transformed that time. 

(Master Fu is definitely entirely too amused to learn of the superhero apartment. Nino thinks the man may still be laughing.  At least he approves, he supposes).

"You need the relaxation, young master," Wayzz had said, insistently, in his soft way, buzzing around Nino's head and settling on his shoulder. "You made sure that Ladybug and Chat Noir had this haven for a reason. That reason now applies to you, as well."

"Please stop calling me young master," Nino says, again, but he takes his kwami's advice. 

Marinette wins Balderdash, because she can guess each answer that belongs to Chat Noir as well as those that belong to Alya, and that competitive streak means she smugly shows off how well she knows Chat Noir's answers rather than downplaying it.  If she knows him a little _too_ well, well, it isn't like the damn cat is going to notice. 

Alya spends half the game laughing too hard to speak.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when we were little, my parents told us watch reflections were tinkerbell and encouraged us to chase them. i dont, uh, i dont think my folks ever entirely switched mindsets from pets to kids. 
> 
> (we thought they found cool split bowls for trips)
> 
> (those were dog bowls)


	6. Chapter 6

It's a little stranger when it's Rena Rouge and Ladybug with Adrien and Nino. They don't do that again after the first time. Nino keeps starting to say things to Rena Rouge that he would to Alya and catching himself at the last moment, meaning he ends up stammering and averting his eyes almost as often as Adrien does with Ladybug, and no one accomplishes anything. (Though Rena Rouge is, as always, having the time of her life).

Nino's finally starting to enjoy dodgeball in gym now. His aim is vastly improved, and he can whip the ball nearly fast enough to catch Adrien unawares- nearly, because inevitably Marinette is there to block and catch and throw it back at Nino, but that's okay because Alya's always at Nino's side in an instant, and one day it takes him a full ten minutes to realise they've been the only four still in the game for a long time. On the sideline, Alix and Kim are whooping with delight and Rose and Juleka are happily filming them.

At one point Nino would have been worried that someone could piece together their identities from that video, but- yeah,  that's not happening. Magic is ridiculous, but it's ridiculous in their favour.

There's an akuma that calls herself Pandora and boxes in everyone she touches- quite literally, she touches someone and a tight box forms around them, opaque and impenetrable. What is Hawkmoth's deal, anyway? Paris is a big city; there _have_ to be people upset over saner things than- whatever this particular akuma of the week is upset about.  Presumably it isn't really about boxes, but with Hawkmoth, who knows. Nino honestly hadn't been paying very much attention to motives or monologues once Pandora had started attacking.

Carapace sees Chat Noir's baton go flying, so he throws Chat Noir his shield as he dives for the baton himself, catching it and flipping it back into Chat Noir's hands as Ladybug nets the shield Chat Noir's already thrown again and slings it back to Carapace.

It takes seconds.

Nino flings his shield a second time when he sees the akuma trying to box Chat Noir again (Adrien is claustrophobic, they can't-) but it's at a terrible angle, it isn't going to connect- but Ladybug leaps, snags it out of the sky, drops into a crouch and hurls it straight into Pandora's face.

The akuma topples like a tree.

Chat Noir runs up and jumps over Ladybug, who springs upright and braces her hands to shove hard into his boots to give him a boost. He goes flying over the akuma, snatching the ribbon she's wearing as he goes, then lands in a tumble and shreds the ribbon with his claws a little more viciously than strictly necessary even as Ladybug's yo-yo darts past to purify the butterfly.

"It's a good thing you think outside the box, my Lady," Chat Noir purrs as he straightens up. He's grinning, but his eyes look tight behind his mask.

Ladybug steps over to him and slings an arm over his shoulders. "Of course, chaton. Couldn't have you be a Chat-in-the-box."

"Pandora did find one _good_ thing in her box," Chat Noir points out slyly, and Ladybug shoves him lightly, laughing.

Nino opens his mouth to make a Schrodinger's cat joke, thinks about the implications, and closes his mouth. Death by Ladybug is not on his agenda.

Alya's thrilled to have been left out of that battle, because the hit counter on the Ladyblog spikes dramatically once she posts those videos.

Hawkmoth seems strangely uninterested in the turtle and fox Miraculous- the akuma continue to target Chat Noir and Ladybug before anyone else; they continue to focus on the ring and the earrings. Nino's a little offended, if he's being honest; his Miraculous is just as awesome as his friends. At the same time, he's pretty glad Hawkmoth seems to have a one-track mind. Bracelets and necklaces are a lot easier to get away from someone than earrings and rings, and he and Alya don't know where their respective jewelry is every minute of every day.

Nino opens the apartment door one day to find Alya grinning and dangling a Twister mat.

"This is a terrible idea," Nino tells her.

"They agreed to let me post this one on the Ladyblog," she says happily.

Ladybug and Chat Noir are, unsurprisingly, fantastic at Twister. Ladybug especially is insanely flexible and Nino is jealous now, thanks. His girlfriend looks absolutely thrilled to learn that her hero is this much more acrobatic than she thought.

That gives Nino more terrible thoughts that he imagines shut firmly away in one of Pandora's boxes. In a box. Not Pandora's box, that's still not a helpful thought.

"Right hand red," Alya says, and Chat Noir looks around, then grins and puts a hand on Ladybug's shoulder.

"Kitty," she says, strained, "Not fair. You're all in black."

His eyes light up. "So you're saying you want to get your hands on me?"

Rolling her eyes, Ladybug lets herself drop to the mat. Unbalanced, Chat Noir goes crashing to the ground just behind her.

"Did you just forfeit?" he asks, stunned.

"Worth it," she says, raising an eyebrow.

Nino raises a hand. "Same time, dude. You both lost."

The two heroes still don't want very much on the Ladyblog, understandably, and Alya and Nino themselves don't want to post anything that would risk their own identities, but they start occasionally putting up selfies or silly photos on the site- always framed against the most nondescript wall the apartment has, just in case.

For most of them it's hard to stay there most nights; their families would notice. Adrien is an exception to that, obviously, but both Nino's parents work nights (and Kim remains a reliable alibi) so Nino is there frequently as well.

It's a constant source of internal torment to him that he spends the night with Chat Noir far, far more frequently than he does Adrien.

Because- well, it's just Nino. Adrien is his best friend. He should be comfortable enough to be himself around Nino.

It takes Nino an embarrassingly long time to realise that's exactly what Adrien is doing.

They all love their superhero alter-egos, but no one else prefers them to their civilian selves the way Adrien does. Given the choice between who they spend time as, the rest of them are fairly evenly balanced when you factor in other deciding influences (like where Wayzz and Trixx even are most of the time, like having loving families to go home to); Adrien will pick Chat Noir _every_ time. Nino thinks he only sees Adrien on nights when the battles have been too much and the cheese afterwards not enough.

Part of it might actually be the bunk beds, at least on the rare nights when Ladybug's there. The first time the girls have left and Nino and Chat Noir have stayed, Nino's mostly asleep on the couch when Chat Noir wanders into the living room, rubbing at the back of his neck in a very Adrien gesture and clearly trying hard not to make any noise as he takes a seat on the floor next to the couch. Nino figures Chat Noir just got restless, so he doesn't think anything of it until he wakes up in the morning and his friend's still there, asleep against the couch, curled up in a way that would probably be painful if he weren't part cat. ( _Are_ they part their-animals? Nino doesn't _think_ he has turtle tendencies, but he hadn't known very much about turtles, before.  He should probably check that.  He's not sure whether or not he wants to. He thinks maybe he's eating more lettuce than before, but that might be in his head, and he might just be worried about it because Ladybug has a definite preference for lettuce and Chat Noir keeps giving his to her).

He might have thought that it's because the apartment isn't as nice as what Adrien's used to, but aside from knowing that Adrien just isn't like that, if that was the case opting to sleep in the living room would make even less sense. Chat Noir sleeps on the floor rather than in his room on his perfectly serviceable bed twice more before it strikes Nino.

Chat Noir doesn't want to be alone.

That's why Nino hardly sees Adrien at night, that's why Chat Noir wanders the apartment when Ladybug isn't napping in the bottom bunk; it's not half as strange for Chat Noir to come seek out people as it is for Adrien. Chat Noir's always been tactile and over the top and distressingly devoted to his partner. None of them are going to tease him for searching out companionship.

None of them are going to tease Adrien for it, either, but it doesn't seem like he believes that, even now.

Ladybug always does stay in their room while they're both there- because she rather has to, because Alya rather cleverly made sure the only other rooms were Marinette and Adrien's, and Ladybug won't risk familiarity with the former and is even now just a little too infatuated to stay in the latter. Those nights are fine. Those nights, with his partner breathing in the dark with him and in arm's reach, Chat Noir sleeps fine. 

So Nino manages to get Ladybug away from her partner long enough to have a private conversation one night (which is always difficult to do- they _really_ do not like to leave each other's sides when they're both there) and asks quietly if she minds if Nino stays in their room when she's not there. 

Her eyes soften behind the mask. "Of course I don't mind. I want him to be happy, Nino, and I trust you with him more than I would nearly anyone else."

Nino blinks at her, stunned, because that's high praise indeed. It had taken Ladybug actual weeks to trust Carapace with her partner's safety, even though he was the hero with the actual shield, and Nino's still pretty sure the only reason Rena Rouge hadn't had to spend just as long proving herself before being left alone with Chat Noir is that Marinette already knew it was Alya.

Well, it's nice to know Nino's counted in that particular inner circle, too.

"Thank you," he says finally. "I'll keep an eye on him when he's here."

"No, thank _you_ , Nino," Ladybug says firmly.

After that whenever Ladybug's not there, Nino starts sleeping in the bottom bunk instead, and Adrien becomes noticeably more well-rested during the day.

Sometimes Alya returns her Miraculous to Ladybug at the apartment, because as long as they stay out of sight it's a convenient place for it, which means that the first time she beats Ladybug back by a significant amount of time Nino gets to meet Trixx for the first time.

"Hello ninja turtle boy," the little fox greets him brightly.

"Hello Trixx," Nino sighs. "Wayzz is still with Master Fu today, sorry."

"I know!" The kwami spins around. "I know, I know! But you are his new chosen, and you are my chosen's chosen, and you  
two together are playing tricks on the cat and the ladybug and I love it!"

"Yeah, yeah," Alya says, smiling gently as she cups her hands and Trixx darts down to huddle in them, bright purple eyes peeking out over them a moment later. "Let's get you back to Ladybug for now, Trixx."

"Aww," the kwami whines good-naturedly. "I want to stay and see!"

"I know, Trixx," Alya says. A thump on the balcony makes her tuck Trixx into her shirt. "Another time- we've got a checkers alert incoming."

Nino's never played so many games before as he does now, or at least, not quite like this. He'd played video games, sure, and they do have a Wii in here, but he hadn't been in the habit of playing so many different board games and card games and dice games as well before. They try a different game at least once a week, sometimes just to see if they like it, and if they do enjoy it then it tends to end up in a regular rotation. It's a lot more fun than he'd initially expected.

If he's having fun, when he'd at least done this sometimes with friends before, how much more must Adrien be enjoying it?

Eventually, after a lot of wheedling and several discussions (arguments) that span entire lunch periods (they're either all much improved at dodging the Gorilla, or the man has decided this is in Adrien's best interests), Marinette and Adrien both agree to come to game night as civilians, at the same time.

He would say as themselves, but honestly, Chat Noir and Ladybug are so much of who his friends are that it just doesn't seem accurate. Sure, Carapace is part of him, and Rena Rouge is part of Alya, and maybe they'll reach that same point themselves eventually, but as of right now their friends are a lot more entwined with their alter-egos than he and Alya are.

The first time they do all four spend the night in their civilian forms is strange. It feels weirdly illicit, even though they've been here together before, even though Adrien spends more nights here than home now; after all, Adrien is usually Chat Noir when they do that, and Marinette rarely stays very long when she isn't Ladybug, and Alya has responsibilities at home.

Alya tries her hardest to manipulate teams for the first few games, but Marinette insists on teaming up with Alya, and once Adrien gives him that particular shy smile that Nino's learned means he's secretly wary of being shut out Nino instantly relents and says he wants Adrien for his team. He expertly ignores the puppy dog eyes that earns him from Alya. Nino has been spending a lot of nights around Chat Noir; begging animal faces have very little effect on him by now.

Actually, they probably don't on Marinette, either. So Alya's out of luck.

It doesn't matter too much in the end- they play a lot of games that don't involve teaming up. By now, they've accumulated enough different games that Alya's devoted Marinette's closet simply to storing them.

"Why _my_ closet?" Marinette asks her, pained.

Alya shrugs and carefully maneuvers Jenga out from the pile. "Because it's used the least? I'm not gonna use Chat Noir's closet, he's here nearly all the time."

Marinette blinks and mutters something that sounds suspiciously like 'so _that's_ why he's gone some nights.'

Huh. So maybe Adrien isn't sleeping at home at all, then. Alya approves.

Alya's a little worried that if she checks, the times he's at Marinette's will match up with the times Nino's at home, but honestly she still can't blame him for just not wanting to be alone.

They make it through two board games and one card game before they start to get tired.

"You two aren't really planning on sleeping on the couch, are you?" Marinette asks them warily as they wind down. There are board games and dice and cards scattered across the living room and the television has turned to static now that the movie they'd had on, whatever it had been, is over (they never did get cable- they mostly rely on an old radio for akuma alerts. Or they follow the sound of the screaming. Or they check the class chat to see who Chloe's upset most recently).

"Nah," Alya shrugs. "We didn't think to actually ask them, but we figured Chat Noir and Ladybug won't mind if we crash in their room for the night." Nino technically does have permission, but it's probably for the best if Alya doesn't admit to knowing that.

"I'm sure they won't," Adrien says softly and Nino winces internally. Now there's something he hadn't thought of- Adrien isn't likely to get much sleep off by himself. They hadn't known that about him when they'd set the rooms up. Subtly, he nudges Alya and tilts his head in their friend's direction.

Alya blinks and her eyes soften. "You know, actually, I have a better idea. We haven't had much girl's time recently- I think I'll stay in Marinette's room if she doesn't mind. Nino, why don't you and Adrien do the same?"

The flash of relief in Adrien's eyes, quickly hidden as it is, is painful to see.

Gabriel Agreste is _such_ a dick.

Nino has always been a restless sleeper. Adrien falls asleep before him, but Nino's still staring at the ceiling in the dark when Adrien starts to twist and turn in his sleep. When Adrien starts to whimper.

Nino's already levered himself up off the floor on one elbow when he sees the flash of black hovering at Adrien's head. He freezes.

The little kwami gives him a dark glance over his shoulder, but doesn't say anything to Nino before settling to the bed and pushing at Adrien's shoulder with tiny paws. His voice is soft and level and horribly practiced as he says, "Hey, kid, it's all right. It's all right. She's safe. She's safe, kid, she's in the next room, not that you would know that because you're both hopeless," he glances back at Nino again but keeps talking to Adrien, "Her kwami's with her.  Tikki's tough. She's safe, your friends are safe, everyone is safe. You're safe. You're safe, kid, and you're not alone. You're not alone. I'm here. Your Lady's here. Your friends are... nearby," another glance, "And everyone's safe."

Adrien's breathing finally starts to even out, hitching now and then. When he turns towards his kwami, Nino can see in the moonlight from the window that while his eyes are still shut- he hasn't woken up- his face is streaked with tears.

Plagg- it has to be Plagg- hovers into the air, looks into Nino's eyes and raises a finger to his lips, and ducks back into Adrien's pillowcase.

When Adrien starts to whine in his sleep again a few hours later, Nino thinks, _to hell with this_ , and gets up and climbs into the bed with him, cautious of the occupied pillowcase. Nino doesn't care anymore if it's weird, especially since even in his sleep Adrien latches onto his shirt immediately, tucking his head in and whimpering.

"Hey it's okay," Nino breathes, carefully taking hold of his friend's arms. "Everyone's safe and you're not alone, okay? It's okay." He shuts his eyes. "You're not alone, Sunshine."

Nino's not sure if Adrien's mom had ever had a nickname for him, but his dad sure doesn't, and Nino hasn't missed the delight that flares in Adrien's eyes every time Alya calls him Sunshine. He can't help but think that nicknames might be another thing Adrien has missed out on until just recently. His friends all have more than enough to worry about; if calling Adrien by a nickname sometimes makes him happy, Nino has no objections.

In the morning, once he's disentangled himself from Adrien with some degree of reluctance- he especially doesn't want to leave him alone now, but at least his kwami's here- Nino goes to the kitchen for coffee and finds Alya already sitting at the table, more ruffled than usual and staring down at a cup of coffee.

"Hey," Nino greets her tiredly, getting a cup of coffee for himself- it looks like Alya's made enough for everyone and then some. They'd been able to furnish the apartment, mostly, thanks to the money from babysitting and DJing, but no one had been able to stop Adrien from buying them a fancy coffeemaker. Frankly, they've sort of started needing it to function, so they can't really complain.  They have tea, too, but Nino tries (tries) to keep that hidden so that he can save it for Wayzz. "Rough night?"

"You could say that," Alya mutters, taking a sip of coffee and wincing when it's apparently still too hot. "I had no idea Mari was having nightmares."

"Sunshine, too," Nino groans, dropping into a chair with his mug. It's not one of the superhero mugs, but it does have a cat and the phrase _Are you kitten me right meow_ on it _._ No one will admit to buying it so he assumes Chat Noir's responsible. The actual Chat Noir mug sports a Cheshire grin and the words _Help meow-t?_ and definitely belongs to Ladybug, even if she'd probably deny it. "And I can confirm that Plagg at least is on to us. He showed up when Adrien first started having a nightmare and he didn't even try to hide from me."

Alya sighs. "Tikki showed up, too. She didn't talk to me, but she definitely knew I was in the room." She hesitates, then says, "What do you think happens when they're both in Chat Noir and Ladybug's room together?"

Nino shrugs. "I have no idea? I mean, he doesn't stay in there if she's not here, unless I sleep in there too.  Otherwise he'll come out here and fall asleep on the floor." At Alya's startled look he raises both his hands defensively. "Hey, he doesn't want to be alone, okay? I didn't really think that was odd, considering. But now I'd also bet they do a lot better with each other nearby.  Plagg kept telling him she was okay. I mean, also that he wasn't alone, so that's not great, but he kept telling him that Ladybug was safe. The two of them, they're," and this time Nino hesitates. He looks at the table as he says, "They're partners, but they're... you know they're more than that, even if they don't seem to know it yet."

"I know it more with every battle." Alya sighs again. "Even now we have to plan things, we have to catch up to each other and talk things through. They _don't_. They just _know_." She tries her coffee again, relieved when it doesn't burn her this time. "Do you ever wonder if maybe the kwami were wrong about not letting them know each other's identity?"

"Not really." At the look that earns him, Nino winces. "Hear me out. And keep in mind, Wayzz is hinting that we should all know at some point soon anyway, so there's that. But... think about the way Adrien especially is with friends, and the way Marinette is with Adrien."

"A little too intensely loyal and a little too intense?" Alya suggests dryly.

Nino's lips twitch. "Yeah, that. Anyway. They're only like that with half of each other right now- they were able to  get to know each other in and out of costume this way. You don't think it would have been dangerous if they'd had all sides of the story from the start?"

Alya considers that, turning her mug around in her hands. "Maybe? It worries me a lot that his only friend was Chloe when we met him."

"It worries me thinking that he could have been like Sabrina," Nino says softly.  "I don't think it would have happened, because Sabrina can be really mean and Adrien really can't- but it's frightening enough that it _could_ have."

Alya stares at him, stricken. "I hadn't thought that far ahead."

Nino shrugs unhappily. "It could have happened, Al. You don't think that kid will do anything his Lady asks? Imagine if he really hadn't made any other friends. Imagine if he thought that the way Chloe acts _is_ friendship." He doesn't _think_ Adrien would have fallen for that, or at least not for long, but they'd still come too close to the possibility. If that had happened to Adrien- if he'd somehow been convinced that was actual friendship, that to keep a friend he'd have to bow and scrape and meekly agree to her ideas all the time- well, this is Adrien. It wouldn't be all that different from what his own father demands. It wouldn't be all that different from what he's _used_ to.

It wouldn't be that different from how he might have acted with Ladybug, if Ladybug weren't so inherently opposed to ever acting anything like Chloe. Chat Noir's slavish devotion to Ladybug scares them both but Ladybug won't take advantage of it.

Ladybug _loves_ Chat Noir, if not the way he wants her to, and he knows it. They help carry each other into the apartment when they're tired or hurt sometimes, they keep close to each other when they're upset or lonely, she encourages him to curl up against her side or in her lap when he needs to, she pets him without ever making fun of him for asking, they stay at each other's side in battle no matter who else is there, they share their meals without ever even thinking about it, she tries her hardest to get him to eat more every time they notice him losing weight again. She loves him, and he loves her back. They're partners; they're each other's other half. They don't seem complete without each other- Nino spends every battle feeling vaguely off balance unless they're both there and well. ('And well' being a necessary condition, because they have yet to break Adrien of those self-sacrificial tendencies, to everyone's collective frustration- but most especially to Ladybug's frustration. She never fights as hard against an akuma as when she's scared for Chat Noir).

Chloe does not love Adrien. Chloe does not love anyone but Chloe.

Nino hates to think about it, but- even now, even with Carapace doing his best to shield everyone as much as he can, Chat Noir gets hurt a lot. He gets hit a lot. He throws himself into danger and in front of his friends over and over and _over_ again even as they scream at him not to. He met Ladybug before nearly anyone else, and she was brave and heroic and kind to him, and he's devoted himself to her with the entirety of his being ever since.

He knows now that he's working with them and with Master Fu that Ladybug had been uncertain at first- that it had been Chat Noir's pep talk that encouraged her to continue to be Ladybug. He knows that sometimes she forgets herself and snaps, or says things she doesn't mean, if only because she's still human.  He knows she gets jealous, she gets anxious, she makes mistakes. Of course she does; she's Marinette as much as she is Ladybug. But- she'd been kind to Adrien before anyone else that Nino knows of. She'd accepted him as her partner immediately and without question. She'd never, ever said not you, or why you, or I don't need your help; she'd _wanted_ him around from the very beginning. She'd been willing to leave Paris to him to protect, she hadn't believed for an instant that he'd robbed the Louvre without a good reason, and she'd been ready to hear his side of the story even if he really _had_ stolen the Mona Lisa because she'd assumed he'd have a good reason- she's always trusted him, wholly and entirely.

Nino has never forgotten the way Adrien had quietly said 'she's like my only friend' when Nino had asked why he would bother to protect Chloe.  He'd said it so quietly, addressed more to the desk than to Nino, like it wasn't something he'd entirely wanted to admit. Friends are all Adrien's ever wanted.

They never had a chance to meet Adrien's mother, and on the vanishingly rare occasions that he mentions her it's always with love and reverence, but Nino has some reservations. He doesn't doubt that she was better than Adrien's father, if only because it would be hard to be worse than Gabriel Agreste without being outright abusive, but.

But she hadn't let him go to school either. She hadn't let him have friends that weren't Chloe. She'd kept him caged just as much as his father had. She hadn't let him _out_. (Adrien is claustrophobic, and no one has had to ask him why). Plagg had done that; Plagg and Ladybug.

And wherever Adrien's mother had gone, she hadn't taken Adrien with her.

(Nino tentatively thinks Nathalie might be on Adrien's side, but Alya adamantly insists that she doesn't trust Nathalie Sancoeur as far as she can throw her. Sure, Nathalie helped Adrien go to school- but she stopped him going, first.  Her loyalty is first and foremost to Gabriel Agreste, not to his son.  If anyone in that house has Adrien's back, it's the Gorilla, and Adrien admits he still doesn't know if the man can't speak or doesn't speak. Adrien still doesn't know his bodyguard's real name.  Also, the man's akuma threw him off a building while fans chased him through the streets, so).

"Great," Alya mutters, pushing her mug away. "Now _I'm_ gonna have nightmares."

"Yeah." Nino sighs. "You're not the only one. But- it didn't happen. He's... well, he's not fine, but he's not..." Nino trails off, not sure how to finish that thought.

Alya's nodding though. "It didn't happen, and we've got his back, and even if we didn't he has Plagg and Ladybug now."

"Yeah." Nino stands up, gathering up both their mugs to dump them in the sink. "But I'm, y'know. I'm gonna head back in there to make sure he doesn't wake up alone."

"Good idea." Alya gets up too. "I'm gonna do the same for Mari- she's not as bad, but I _swear_ she's reaching for Chat Noir in her sleep."

Nino sighs. He really hopes they figure this out soon. He doesn't know how much more of this his fraying sanity can take.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise there's an angst chapter (it was kinda necessary)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i thought this would be two chapters, but there was no good place to split it, so. longer chapter it is!

To everyone's surprise, his own included, it's Nino who gets caught first.

Well, technically, it's Wayzz that gets caught first.

Wayzz and Nino can't change anywhere near Master Fu's without putting their master in danger, after all, so Nino sometimes goes to the apartment to transform, and one night he stumbles in exhausted after a difficult battle without checking his surroundings thoroughly enough.

It's very quickly clear that he wasn't the only one to have that idea.

Marinette and Adrien must have beaten him back by a significant amount of time, because it's Ladybug and Chat Noir who fling their bedroom door open to find Nino scrounging through the kitchen-

-and Wayzz on the table in plain sight.

"Nino?" Ladybug says blankly, staring straight at Wayzz.

"Um," Nino says.

"I have to leave, right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons," Wayzz offers, and Nino turns a betrayed stare on his kwami, who yelps softly and dives behind the toaster.

The toaster does not hide him.

"Um," Chat Noir says.

"What was that?" Ladybug says, voice low and dangerous as she leans on her partner, both of them halfway out their door. Nino's not even sure why they're here tonight. The battle was twenty minutes ago, it's not like them to transform back and come here so quickly.

"It's nothing?" Nino tries.

From somewhere out of sight, he hears the familiar sound of Trixx snickering, and his heart sinks. Alya isn't supposed to be back yet, either. He knew they all took the battle hard but- he didn't think they'd _all_ have to come back here to patch each other up. From even just a quick glance at his friends (he doesn't really want to look them in the eyes just yet), he can tell that's why they're here. Miraculous Cure heals their injuries, but it can still leave them sore and aching, and Chat Noir is limping and Ladybug is clenching and unclenching one hand as though trying to shake the pain out.

Which means Chat Noir's already in a down mood. Nino doesn't want to do this.

"Nino. Was that Wayzz?" Ladybug asks, narrowing her eyes.

"No?" Nino tries again, trying not to sound desperate. He doesn't think he's succeeding.

"Wait, you know Wayzz?" Chat Noir asks, his tail starting to lash in agitation. Sometimes it's nice that his body language is so easy to read. Right now is not one of those times.

"Why do you have Wayzz?" Ladybug says. If she had a tail, it would be lashing, too.

"You _both_ know Wayzz?" Chat Noir says, ears slowly flattening back.

"I can explain?" Nino offers, and this time he knows he sounds desperate.

" _Can_ you?" Ladybug says. "Is Master Fu all right?"

"You know Master Fu?" Chat Noir says. "Does everyone know everyone else except me?" He pads into the living room with Ladybug at his heels, staring past Nino at the toaster. He doesn't look happy.

Nino fights back a groan of despair.

Wayzz peers over the toaster and offers tentatively, "My master is doing well. He simply wished for me to start spending more time with the young master, including your recreational time."

"Yeah, and I assumed that was what would get us caught," Nino says, giving in and accepting defeat. There's no hiding his kwami now.  "I was being responsible this time. We thought Wayzz should recharge before I brought him home."

"It was a good thought," Wayzz acknowledges, finally emerging from behind the toaster and flitting over to settle on Nino's shoulder. "It's not your fault, young master. This was inevitable."

"Please don't call me young master," Nino says reflexively.

Wayzz doesn't acknowledge that any more than he ever does, continuing instead, "Please don't direct your anger at my chosen. He was under fairly strict instruction from Master Fu not to reveal his identity."

"Does Alya know?" Ladybug demands.

While Nino is still trying- with very limited success- to figure out how to answer that, Trixx comes flying in at speed and renders it a moot point.

"Yes!" the little fox kwami chirps, bobbing through the air, then spinning in place and giggling. "Yes, yes! He is the Guardian, and he is the chosen of my chosen- he has to know!"

"Trixx! Trixx, we talked about this, you can't just-" Alya comes scrambling out of their bathroom, her hair a mess and her shirt badly buttoned, and freezes when she sees the tableau in the living room. "Um. Is there any way I can hope nobody saw and or heard that?"

"Alya?" Chat Noir says faintly. His eyes are very wide and very bright.

"Uh," Alya says. "Sorry, Ladybug, Trixx kind of... darted off on their own." Trixx darts over to perch on Alya's shoulder in a mirror of Wayzz and Nino, still giggling.

"My lady," Chat Noir says, hurt, starting to crouch in reaction. (Nino has to stop himself from reaching for him- that's for Ladybug to do, not him- and he sees Alya reel in the same movement in the same moment). Chat Noir starts to lean into Ladybug's side from pure habit, but jerks away. "You knew."

"It wasn't my secret to tell," Ladybug says anxiously as she does reach for her partner. "You know that, kitten. Master Fu asked me to keep secrets, too. I had no idea Nino was Carapace." She stops and rubs at her mask with her free hand. "Is Carapace. You've been..." She trails off. "We've been here this whole time?"

Nino's eyes are still on Chat Noir, but if he notices Marinette's slip he gives no sign of it.

"Welcome to the Apartment of Solitude," Alya says dryly. "Or, well, anti-solitude as it were. Ladybug, will you _please_ hug your cat, his sad face is going to kill me and I do not want that on my headstone."

"Hey," Chat Noir starts, but Ladybug does immediately go to him to haul him up and hug him. He looks at first like he wants to resent it but he burrows into her arms in the end. "Sorry, LB. This is... a lot." He glances up at her hopefully. "Does this mean we can tell each other?"

"Oh, kitten," Ladybug says, stroking his hair, hugging him impossibly closer. "It would still put our loved ones in danger."

"Ladybug," he says very softly, and she stills at her full name, at the wrecked sound of his voice. Nino is beginning to feel kind of voyeuristic now, but, well, they act kind of like this a lot and they've never seemed to care before if there was an audience. The stakes are just a little higher this time, that's all. "Nearly all my loved ones are _here_."

Nino winces. He knew that, he's pretty sure, but it's different to hear Adrien _say_ it.

It's only now that he has that Nino realises he hadn't really thought he ever would. Nino may know Gabriel Agreste is a dick, but the man is still Adrien's father. But- even Adrien can only handle one-sided affection for so long before he retreats to the people who actually express love for him in return. Knowing Adrien, he still does love his father, but he probably believes by now that the man _doesn't_ love him in return. Not like the people he spends his time with.

Not like them. Not like Ladybug.

"Kitty," Ladybug says again, holding him tighter. He buries his face in her shoulder, hands balled into fists at his side- always a worrying posture for him to take, with his claws. They've all seen those claws draw blood before, if only under extenuating circumstances. "Chat Noir. Oh, kitten, I'm so sorry, I never thought-"

Light starts sparking at her feet. Then at his.

Alya and Nino both take startled steps back.

Their friends haven't noticed yet; they both have their eyes closed, murmuring to each other, and Nino doesn't particularly want to listen in on what's clearly a private moment even though it isn't like they don't both _know_ that Nino and Alya, and Wayzz and Trixx, are all right here. He thinks there's a good chance they've forgotten that, anyway. Wayzz and Nino may have been the catalysts, but they're not what's important right now.

The lights move up- the lights go _out_ , leaving Marinette standing there with Adrien in her arms. Nino is afraid to breathe, and judging by the look on her face, so is Alya.

"Hey, kid," Plagg says, and Adrien jumps in place but doesn't open his eyes. "Yeah, gettin' tired of this. It was fun at first, but this has gotten dumb. Right, Tikki?"

"He's right," the other kwami says, perching on Marinette's head. "He's rude about it, but he's right. It's time."

"On the count of three, Chat Noir?" Marinette says quietly.

"Y-yeah." He takes a deep breath.

Alya steps slowly backwards until she reaches Nino's side and takes his hand, never taking her eyes off their friends. She wants to burn this moment into her memory. She wants to record it so she can replay it over and over.

She wants her friends to be _happy_ , more than anything.

"One," Marinette says, tilting her head down, pressing her forehead to Adrien's.

"Two," Adrien says, taking another deep breath, shuddering in her arms. It's strange to see that, without the masks. It feels like they've shifted just a little left of normal.

"Three," Marinette says, and opens her eyes, and gasps.

Adrien doesn't open his eyes, brows furrowing instead as he holds Ladybug tighter.

"It's you," Marinette breathes, softly, joyously. Then, even softer, "Of course- oh, of _course_ it's you. Who else could it be?"

"My lady?" Adrien says uncertainly.

"Oh, mon minou," she says, reaching up to scratch behind where his ears would be if he were transformed. "Please open your eyes." Marinette's voice is steady. She doesn't panic like Nino had halfway feared; even without Tikki's direct influence she's still Ladybug right now, and Ladybug is talking to Chat Noir, not to Marinette's hopelessly unrequited crush. (Of course it had been unrequited- because Adrien is in love with Ladybug).

Very, very slowly, Adrien's eyes crack open.

Then he sees Marinette's face, and his eyes _fly_ open. "It's you!" He starts to smile, even as his eyes start to water. "It's- it's you. Of course it is, it was always going to be you."

Marinette laughs, flushing. "Kitty, we're so dumb."

" _Yeah_ you are," Plagg says, circling them in agitation. "Do you have any idea how painful this has been?"

"Plagg, you knew?" Marinette says, amused. Her eyes are beginning to shine as well.

"Since Dark Owl." Plagg stops to hover and squint at her. "Hey, you know my name."

Adrien reaches up and gently takes hold of Plagg. "Of course she does, Plagg. You're my kwami and my friend- you're important to me."

"Hey," Alya says. "Does this mean Trixx can finally stay with me? I miss them when they're not around."

Marinette laughs again. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess... that wasn't very nice of me."

"Really wasn't," Nino agrees, reaching up so that Wayzz jumps from his shoulder to his hand. "The rest of us had a lot more choice in it."

"You both knew," Adrien says. It's not a question, but it also doesn't sound angry. He sounds, if anything, relieved, and maybe a little wondering. He might just be happy to know that all his friends and teammates are here and safe.

He'd said nearly all his loved ones. Nino wonders if this brings it up to _all_.

"We figured it out," Alya admits. "Master Fu confirmed it for us, but we'd already known for a while. Don't get too worried about it- apparently magic keeps most people from connecting the dots." She grins.

Marinette groans. "Please don't start."

"The cat's already out of the bag," Adrien says slyly, "What more harm can we do?"

"I have regrets," Marinette tells him.

"You have Agreste," Nino suggests.

Alya elbows him. "That one's a stretch, babe."

Adrien and Marinette still haven't let go of each other. They're still in the same position as when they were transformed. They're both shaking.

"Hmm," Tikki says, flitting into the air and looking down at her charge. "Plagg?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Plagg grumbles. "Hey kid?"

Adrien looks up. For the first time, they can see for certain that he's been crying. "Yeah?"

"Claws out," Plagg says, and transforms him.

"Wait, he can do that?" Marinette asks, just before Tikki says, "Spots on."

"News to me," Nino says. "You guys wanna play Pandemic?"

"Are we just gonna..." Ladybug blinks. "Are we just going to act like everything's normal?" She blinks again. "And why are we transformed again?"

"I mean, for us, this _is_ normal," Alya points out. "Only less frustrating. And because your kwami love you, and Adrien's happier when he's all kittied up, and it's weird if he's the only one transformed."

"Are you two gonna transform too?" Chat Noir asks, not looking like he plans on letting go of Marinette anytime soon.

Alya waves that idea off. "Nah, we started off this way, we're good. Anyway, it'd be nice for Wayzz and Trixx to get to be out for a bit, you know?"

"I would like that!" Trixx exclaims, leaping off Alya's shoulder to somersault in place in midair. "I would like that a lot, and I'm sure Wayzz wants to explore!"

"Well," Wayzz says, floating off Nino's shoulder with considerably more dignity. "I won't deny that."

"There's a cat tree in their room, go nuts," Alya tells both kwami.

Trixx tackles Wayzz past them and through the open door.

" _That's_ what the cat tree was for? The kwami?" Ladybug asks, amused. Then she blanches. "Wait, that's still our room?"

"Well, it was also for teasing Chat Noir," Alya admits. "Sort of a two for one deal there. Also, yes? You're still you. Also? I am getting tired of sharing a couch."

Chat Noir lifts his head enough to stare at her. "You did that on purpose. The bedrooms."

Nino scoffs. "Well, yeah."

" _Alya_ ," Ladybug says, strained.

"You both sleep better in the same room," Alya says adamantly. "I'm gonna leave the others as they are, really, 'cause they were gifts and Nino and I don't really care, but you two should still sleep in your room." It also isn't like she and Nino need separate rooms, but if their friends haven't worked that out yet Alya's not going to be the one to tell them.

Ladybug and Chat Noir are carefully not looking at each other, but they also haven't let go of each other. They always have both clung to their partner more tightly when they're stressed. Apparently not even life-shaking realisations can change that.

Plus they're healing quickly again now that they're back in the suits, but they _were_ here because they were hurt.

"All right," Nino sighs. "Why don't you two go kick Wayzz and Trixx out of your room and talk to each other for a while? We'll stay out here. We'll set up the game and make, I don't know, hot chocolate or dinner or something."

Chat Noir and Ladybug exchange a speaking look and then both look startled to still be doing it.

"Yeah okay," Alya steps forward and begins physically pushing them through their door. "Go process, we'll be right out here." She adds that last bit for Adrien's sake. They've been trying to do that since Nino'd overheard that nightmare- to let him know that they're all right here and safe. Alya still isn't sure how much it helps, but it definitely can't hurt.

The two of them go without arguing and as soon as the kwami are back out Alya shuts the door behind them.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Nino asks her even as he checks the pantry for whatever they've left here to eat. They don't tend to keep much at the apartment, and what they do keep there they usually consciously try to leave for Chat Noir, so the food they actually have on hand tends to be a bit of a mixed bag.

"Sure," Alya says with a shrug, reaching past him and pulling out a half a loaf of bread. Sandwiches are pretty much always a safe bet. "They're still them. They're still Ladybug and Chat Noir. I think their kwami changed them back specifically so they could have that talk _as_ Ladybug and Chat Noir, honestly. You know, remind them that it's still them."

"I hate that we kept all this from them," Nino says, moving to the fridge. (Adrien had bought them a better fridge. Adrien had bought most of the appliances; it didn't matter that they'd all told him he didn't have to, he'd smiled and nodded and then done it anyway). "Chat Noir was crying. I hate seeing him hurt.  I mean, I don't like any of us to get hurt," that's an understatement, he's the one with a shield for a _reason_ , "But with Chat Noir it's different. I mean... you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I think we all get like that," Alya says, laying out slices of bread and reaching without looking for Nino to drop a package of cheese into her hand.  She wants to make tuna salad for Chat Noir, but they'll leave that for last- the hero tends to react to the sound of a can opener much the same as a real cat might.  "Hey, what do we call them now, anyway?"

Alya shrugs, starting on the sandwiches as Nino slides into one of the other chairs. "I think we should keep doing what we've been doing- hero names when we're transformed, civilian names when we're not. We're all both people, right? And anyway, we don't want to risk yelling the wrong name during a battle. I'm betting the magic has limits."

"I'm not," Nino says, pained, thinking of some of the places they've changed. He and Alya had admittedly gotten pretty lax about hiding themselves once they'd realised just how ridiculous some of the places Adrien and Marinette got away with were.  They still aren't as bad as their friends, but Nino can definitely think of more than a few places he's changed that he has no intention of admitting to Alya. Like in the subway. Or up a tree. Or in the middle of the street, once. "You're right though, we should pay attention to which names we use."

"It's true that you are both Nino and Carapace," Wayzz speaks up, flitting over to land on the brim of Nino's hat.  "Like you, they are hero and civilian, both."

Nino is not wholly convinced that the word civilian means the same thing to Wayzz as it does to him but he appreciates the support all the same.

If Nino's being completely honest, it's nice that Wayzz can hang around out in the open like this- no hiding under his hat or in a backpack or diving out of sight. One of the things Nino's learned from Master Fu is that the bond between a kwami and their chosen is something special, something to be treasured; that it's better for them both if they spend more time together. That's why Tikki and Plagg always spend as much time as possible with their chosen; of all the kwami, they bond the closest, because they tend to choose people who _need_ that bond.  It's a little different for Wayzz, obviously, when his previous chosen is still in the picture, but it means something for his friends, and for Alya, and it means Nino enjoys having somewhere his kwami doesn't have to hide.

It means Nino aches fiercely whenever he thinks of what must be happening to Nooroo, and that Hawkmoth has neatly eclipsed Gabriel Agreste (barely) as far as people whose ass Nino wants to kick, but he doesn't need to share that information with his friends just yet. He doesn't need them to go actively hunting down Hawkmoth.

It hasn't escaped Nino that they may have to do just that, in the end, but he can at least put it off for a while.

It's a few hours before Chat Noir and Ladybug's door opens again, making Nino and Alya both glad they'd decided on sandwiches and not anything that needed to be kept a certain temperature. (Alya had made the tuna salad in the end, too- they'd heard a thump from the bedroom like maybe Chat Noir had fallen off the furniture again, but the can opener hadn't been enough to make him come running out. That might be a first. But then, nothing ever has been more important to him than his Lady). 

They're Adrien and Marinette again when they open the door, and they're both smiling. Nino hadn't known he was worried until he isn't.  More than that, the two aren't keeping the kind of space they usually do between them when they're civilians; they're just as close to each other as they are as Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Actually, their body language looks mostly Ladybug and Chat Noir, right now. Nino blinks and shakes his head, but- no, he still sees it. They don't quite have their usual superhuman grace, but it's still clearly them even as civilians. It doesn't shine through this clearly even in their dodgeball games, when the two of them partnering up means they move a little less like Marinette and Adrien and a little more like Ladybug and Chat Noir.

"Hey," Marinette greets them softly. "We're, uh, we're good now." She flushes. "Are you two-?"

"We're good," Nino assures her, holding up a sandwich and gesturing at the table. "You guys wanna come eat?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Marinette moves across the room with Ladybug's easy confidence; Adrien, with Chat Noir's casual feline lope. It's even more obvious when they're moving.

"Were you two, like, consciously holding back before?" Alya asks, startled. That doesn't happen to her and Nino. They move the same in costume and out of it, yes, but they move like normal humans. That's not what their friends are doing.

It's Adrien that flushes now. "Kinda?" he says awkwardly. "It's just- I'm." He stops. "It's weird to say it out loud."

"It's all right, kitty," Marinette encourages him, slinging an arm around his shoulders and ruffling his hair.

Nino nearly drops his sandwich. Alya is less subtle, staring at their friends, and Trixx darts into the air to helpfully imitate Alya's expression. Wayzz seems unaffected, but then, Wayzz has seen both sides of everyone before with the full knowledge of what that means, and Nino and Alya are beginning to suspect Wayzz has seen more than most kwami, besides.

"Sorry!" Alya says hastily. "Sorry, we should be used to this, but-" She waves with her sandwich. "It's just, it's different, when you're like this? Not in a bad way?"

"You want us to call Tikki and Plagg back here?" Adrien asks, amused. "They're enjoying the cat tree right now."

"They're actually-" Alya sets down her sandwich to scrub at her face. Again, Trixx copies her. "No, okay, let me keep my train of thought here. Sunshine, you normally move like that?"

He shrugs, leaning into Marinette. "If I'm not paying attention, yeah. Plagg says I picked up more cat traits than most Chat Noir do. We think it's, uh," he averts his gaze, turning more towards Marinette. "Because I spend a lot more time transformed."

"Most Chat Noir?" Alya repeats faintly.

Nino ignores that- it's not news to him, and it shouldn't be to her, but evidently he hadn't explained it clearly enough- and says, "Hey, we know. Just, you only gotta transform when you want to. We don't care if you act like Chat Noir when you're Adrien- we like both sides of you."

"I want to transform most of the time," Adrien says softly, shutting his eyes. "Almost- almost all the time, really."

Marinette tugs him closer and turns a frighteningly dark gaze on Nino.

Oh. Nino shrugs, watching them both. "Then go ahead. Like I just said, we like _both_ sides of you."

Marinette's gaze goes from dangerous to proud. Adrien lifts his head again, starting to smile. "I'm glad to hear that."

"Also?" Alya pipes up. Trixx has settled on her head again. "I've been dying to say this for ages, but like," she waves both arms, " _Dodgeball._ How did you not _know_."

Marinette shifts in place for a moment, but then the two of them exchange glances again and sit down at the table, next to each other. If their chairs maybe don't need to be that close, well, Nino isn't going to comment. Ladybug and Chat Noir have always been happiest when they're in physical contact with each other- now that they do know, he can't imagine Adrien and Marinette will be much different. "Um, magic? Tikki said she and Plagg shield us."

Nino slides Adrien the tuna salad sandwich and Marinette a BLT and doesn't say anything when they hand each other half their sandwiches without looking. That's another Chat Noir and Ladybug thing, but, well. This apartment is the safest place they have, and the two of them had talked for a long time.  If letting Ladybug and Chat Noir bleed over into their civilian identities while they're here is what makes his friends happy then Nino is all for it. "So... does that mean it was Tikki and Plagg who let me and Alya figure it out?"

"I don't think so," Adrien says slowly. He starts to pick up his sandwich by the very edges like he's got his claws right now and promptly drops it. He freezes, but when no one calls attention to it, he relaxes again and picks it up normally. "Tikki made it sound like it wasn't exactly conscious on their parts."

"It is as my Master told you," Wayzz insists, lifting briefly into the air with agitation, then landing on Nino's hat again. "You broke the magic on your own."

"You- wow." Adrien blinks. "How did you manage that?"

Marinette nudges him with her shoulder. "Hey, kitty. I wanna know too, but eat."

Adrien grins at her sheepishly and actually starts on his sandwich.

"Besides, we don't honestly know," Nino says. "We were talking about starting an akuma club, and we were bummed you couldn't join, and we were talking about honorary members, and Kim and Alix started joking about how you could join as Ladybug and Chat Noir and something just... clicked."

Marinette blinks. "You've known for that long?" She sets down her half-eaten sandwich (on Adrien's plate). "You already knew when I first brought you the fox Miraculous?"

"Ah, yeah," Alya says sheepishly. "In my defense, I _was_ trying to get you to admit it to me on your own, you know, like, right before that. You know. Literally minutes before that."

"What?" Adrien says forlornly.

"I never would have told anyone else before telling you," Marinette assures him immediately, fiercely. "We're partners."

Alya and Nino exchange frustrated looks while their friends aren't watching them.  Nino had hoped he'd have less frustration in his life once they _knew_ they were each other's best friends, but that obviously isn't going to be the case- it's just a different kind of frustration. 

"Yeah, well, you clearly weren't telling." Alya shrugs. "And you'd sort of swayed me to your side by the end of the night, except, you know, Nino already knew what was up.  When Rena Rouge joined in, he knew it was me immediately. It didn't matter if I said anything or not- he was the only person who could already tell."

"I wanted to tell you both," Nino said. "Or at least tell Chat Noir it was me, since it really didn't seem fair that he was- that you were getting the most left out. But Wayzz and Master Fu both said it was important you learned it on your own, and I dunno if I coulda managed admitting I was Carapace without admitting I knew you were Adrien."

"It was important that they told each other!" Wayzz interjects.

"And it was funny," Trixx adds, darting down to investigate the rest of Alya's sandwich. Alya sighs and hands her kwami a piece of ham. Delighted, Trixx zips to the counter with it. Sighing, Wayzz abandons Nino's hat to join the other kwami.

"Wait, is that what Trixx eats?" Marinette asks, distracted.

Alya throws her hands up. "I don't know! Trixx eats everything, I have no idea what the actual recharge is!"

Trixx giggles and doesn't enlighten anyone.

"At least yours isn't picky," Adrien mutters.

Nino shrugs. "If it helps, we've known the Camembert was for your kwami for a while?"

"Yeah, all right, it does help. Kind of." Adrien shoves his chair back and sideways, pressing hard into Marinette again. "So... are we still having a game night?"

"Of course we are!" Alya shoves her own chair back much harder, springing to her feet and nearly knocking Nino over. "We'll even let you two team up for Pictionary again, how about it?"

"No," Nino pleads. "No. I know you guys had a shock and all, but please, please don't do that to us again. That's not a game. That's not a competition. That' s just terrifying."

"W-well," Marinette says, blushing as she takes Adrien's hand and doesn't look at anyone. "Nino's right, really, Alya. There's no competition when- when we know we're gonna win. Right, chaton?"

Adrien glances at her and his whole face softens as he smiles. "Of course, my Lady. But if we team up, we can beat them at anything they want to play- there's no competition in anything."

"Then let's play something we don't have to play _against_ them at," Marinette suggests, leaning into him the same way he's leaning into her. "We are a team."

Alya blinks, because she can see them two different ways right now; she can see her friends Adrien and Marinette plainly, but it's easy to envision Chat Noir and Ladybug in their place. In the way they act and move and tease each other, she can see all of them at once. For the first time in a long time they both look... whole.

"We are a team," Adrien agrees softly, smiling at Marinette.

Alya turns to Nino with a full-fledged grin. "No, _all_ of us are a team. _You're_ partners."

Without missing a beat, their friends fistbump and chorus, "Bien joue!"

Nino rolls his eyes and gets up. "You're going to do that every time you win now, aren't you." It isn't a question. "I'm getting Pandemic. Maybe we'll actually manage to save the world this time."

"Excuse you, we save the world all the time," Alya retorts. Then her eyes light up. "Hey, or we could finally play Never Have I Ever!"

"No," all three of her friends chorus at once.

Nino slowly turns his head to stare at Wayzz, who had also joined in the chorus.

Wayzz shrugs, a little defensively. "I said it sounded like a poor idea before and I do stand by that."

"But," Alya says, looking around for support and drooping when she finds none. "But we don't have to protect our secret identities from each other, now. Et tu, Trixx?" she asks her giggling kwami.

"I don't like that game," Trixx pipes up. "Plagg always win."

"You-" Alya's eyes widen behind her glasses. "You've played Never Have I Ever with Plagg?"

"Not only with Plagg," Wayzz mutters, before seeming to remember himself. "Ah, but it is beneath most of us kwami to play such a game, of course."

"Is it?" Alya asks knowingly, eying the turtle kwami. "Trixx, has Wayzz played too?"

Trixx snorts without looking up. "'Course he has. So's Tikki. Kwami don't get to be together often, 'cept Plagg and Tikki; even Wayzz'll hang out if we can!"

"What, just not this time?" Alya asks, amused.

Wayzz huffs. "It is a rare event that all four of our chosen are close friends and teammates; rarer still that they share a living space where we are all welcome and not required to keep hidden." He eyes Trixx over a piece of lettuce he'd acquired at some point. "Though Trixx is usually quite fond of games, even those at which they lose."

"Hey, no game-shaming my kwami," Alya says easily, scooping Trixx up and waving everyone after her into the living room. "Pandemic it is, though. Sorry that it's only four players."

"There are four of you," Wayzz says slowly as he follows after Nino.

"There are eight of us now," Alya counters, and grins at the little turtle's expression. "Hey, Adrien and Marinette aren't the only partners in the room. There wouldn't be any Carapace or Rena Rouge without you, y'know? And no Chat Noir or Ladybug without their kwami, either."

"Well it's about time someone acknowledged we're more than fancy transformation aids," Plagg says, flying into the room and diving straight for Adrien, who shifts just enough for Plagg to dart immediately into his shirt.

"Hey, Plagg," Marinette says, "You know you don't have to hide now, right?"

"Who said anything about hiding?" Plagg's head and paws appear above the collar of Adrien's shirt. "It's comfortable in here, you know? Tikki may have a purse and a fancy set-up under a chaise lounge but I have a reinforced pocket and I am claiming the cat tree. She can pry it from my cold dead paws."

"How do you even know about that set up?" Marinette asks him as Tikki settles far more demurely on her chosen's shoulder. "You've never been in my- oh my god, you _have_ been in my room." She stares at Plagg. "That was- that was back at Gamer! You said you've known since Dark Owl!"

"Yeeaaah, well, that's when I _knew_ ," Plagg says. "Before that I only suspected. Strongly. Strongly suspected." He waves one paw. "You're a weird girl, that set up could have been for anyone!"

"Anyone the size of a kwami?" Marinette asks skeptically. Then, "Hey, wait, who are you calling weird?"

"I'm calling you weird, weirdo," Plagg retorts. "For all I knew you had a pet mouse, you know?"

"A pet mouse," Marinette says. "Plagg, I live in a bakery.  Mice are not generally welcome."

"You totally would make a pet mouse furniture, too, though, Marinette," Alya points out helpfully.

"See? Reporter girl agrees with me!" Plagg says triumphantly.

Very gently, Adrien puts one hand over his kwami and pushes Plagg back inside his shirt. "Ah, sorry. Plagg is a bit abrasive when you're just getting to know him."

"I heard that," Adrien's pocket says.

"I believe that you were meant to," Wayzz says dryly.

"We could play that game with the elf kid with the kwami," Adrien's pocket says. "I like your video games."

"Link's still not an elf, and Navi's still not a kwami," Adrien says gently.

Plagg scoffs. "He's a kid with a magic fairy that changes his appearance. He gets like three Miraculous before she gets around to transforming him!"

"Wait, does Plagg think the Spiritual Stones are Miraculous?" Marinette asks, thoroughly distracted. "What does he think the Sages- and the _time travel-_ "

"Anyway!" Alya waves everyone ahead of her, into the living room, before Marinette and Adrien can get too deeply into discussing video games with their kwami. Well- their kitchen opens on their living room, so it's more like she waves everyone over by about five feet. "Who's up for Cards Against Humanity?"

"I thought we were playing Pandemic?" Adrien says, even as he drops cross-legged in front of the sofa, tugging the Ladybug blanket down after him. Marinette sits down beside him, grabbing the Chat Noir blanket and draping it around both their shoulders. Adrien grins, blinking slowly, and curls into her side.

Alya shrugs as she sits down on the floor across from her friends, next to Nino. Wayzz and Trixx follow them in as well, Wayzz settling on the brim of Nino's hat again, Trixx diving for Alya's lap. Alya glances around and says, "We were, but Pandemic's not eight players. Cards Against Humanity is. You guys wanna hand us our blankets, then?"

Marinette twists and grabs the Carapace and Rena Rouge blanket to throw to her friends. Nino catches them with the long ease he's gained from throwing his shield around.

Plagg peeks back out from Adrien's shirt. "You were serious about us playing?"

"'Course we were," Alya assures him, while Nino starts passing out cards. Alya takes the chance to dig out one of the squeaky mouse toys they'd bought for Chat Noir and tosses it at Adrien.

He catches it, squeaks it immediately with a grin, then slowly starts to freeze and glances up from beneath his bangs. "Um."

Alya tosses him another mouse. He bats at it instinctively, then blinks up at them- slowly, very slowly.

Nino's had a cat before. He knows what it means that Adrien slow blinks at all of them (though, always, at Ladybug most of all).

Laughing, Marinette tugs her partner close again, flushing only faintly as he melts into her side. "Go ahead, chaton, they wouldn't have bought them for you if they'd minded."

"Oh!" Alya stands up abruptly, her blanket falling and scattering her cards. Nino sighs and starts to pick them up again as Alya says, "Hold that thought, I'll be right back," and darts into Marinette's room.

When she emerges with a flowerpot and a grin and hands it to Marinette with an overdone flourish, Adrien starts laughing helplessly. Marinette shoves him playfully, he shoves her back, and their play fighting escalates until he's draped over her lap and grinning breathlessly up at her.

Tikki and Plagg have abandoned their humans to sit together on the floor by then. Nino thinks they'd have found somewhere else to perch, but they both look pretty interested in the cards Nino's dealt out for them.  A little guiltily, he wonders how unusual it might be for the Miraculous' chosen to include their kwami in something as frivolous as a game night.

He glances around the room. Adrien seems just as content to play from his current position as he always has been as Chat Noir, Wayzz is edging closer to Nino as he tries to hide his cards from Trixx, Plagg and Tikki are sitting nearly as closely together as their human counterparts, and even Alya is smiling more widely than he's ever seen before.

Nino's sure they've got obstacles to overcome yet. Adrien and Marinette aren't likely to be so comfortable with each other outside of this apartment right away, there's the matter of the apartment itself and convincing Adrien to move in for real (and if he's being honest, Nino knows the rest of them are sure to follow as quickly as they can), and, most pressingly of all, Hawkmoth is still out there. Paris is still in danger; Nooroo is still in trouble.

It took them a longer time to get to this point than he'd have hoped, but right here, right now, they're all finally, miraculously, happy to be purely- and entirely- themselves.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (it took me until the _final edit_ to realise that reveal has a bunch of elements from when i came out to my brothers) 
> 
> so! technically, this has a sequel. the thing is, the sequel is something i was writing for myself, to be writing something whenever i was stalled on other fics, and it's. well. the same tone, mostly, but a bit more of an adventure, and a lot more ridiculous. it has gratuitous legend of zelda references. it has tangential zombies. it hints a lot more strongly at an OT4 than this fic does. it's called Monopoly is Banned for a Reason, Alya, and do you guys want me to start posting it?
> 
> EDIT: sequel's up, next fic in the series!

**Author's Note:**

> "I have to go, right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons" is from a conversation with shinobicyrus while watching the show, because these kids are actually terrible at excuses, and I AM AN IDIOT WHO FORGOT IT WAS FROM THAT CONVERSATION


End file.
